Guest Author: Pamela Samuels Young

I would like to Welcome Pamela Samuels Young to Book Junkie today as my Guest Author celebrating her latest release Buying Time from Goldman House Publishing.



If someone were writing a story about Pamela Samuels Young, what would your blurb say?
Pamela is a living example that persistence pays off! Or . . . writing legal thrillers is Pamela’s passion!

Can you tell us a little about your newest release Buying Time?
Waverly Sloan is a down-on-his-luck attorney who provides quick cash to terminally ill patients. His clients, however, must agree to sign over rights to their life insurance policies before they can collect a dime. When Waverly's clients start dying sooner than they should, he’s the number one suspect. Unwittingly drawn into a perilous web of greed, blackmail and murder, Waverly goes on the run—with a determined female prosecutor hot on his trail.

The idea for Buying Time came to me while chatting with a friend at a party. I knew he was in the insurance business, but when he explained that he was a viatical broker, I started asking lots of questions because I’d never heard of the viatical industry. When he finished explaining how he brokers the insurance policies of terminally ill patients, I knew the industry was the perfect backdrop for a thriller.

What was your favorite scene to write in Buying Time?
I enjoyed writing the scenes between Angela and Dre. Creating their relationship allowed me to step out of the mystery writer role and briefly become a romance writer.


If you could be any of your heroine’s who would you be?
I’d love to be Special, who is a character in my first three novels, Every Reasonable Doubt, In Firm Pursuit and Murder on the Down Low. She’s savvy, street smart, and sexy and more often than not she goes with her emotions no matter what the consequences.

How long did it take you to get published?
It took me three years to finish my first novel, and as soon as I was done, I passed out copies to everyone I knew. I ultimately shelved it and started working on a second novel after realizing that nobody was willing to give me feedback about it because it pretty much sucked. At that time, I had no clue how to structure a story or create suspense.


A year later, I had finished my second book, Every Reasonable Doubt. In the interim, I took some writing courses, hired a writing coach and spent a lot of time studying the structure of mysteries that I thought were page-turners. Convinced that this manuscript was a winner, I again asked friends to read it. This time around, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.


Armed with that encouraging feedback, I set out to find an agent. After months of rejection from agents, an excerpt of Every Reasonable Doubt won first place in a writing competition and received an honorable mention in another contest. Shortly after that, I had three agents interested in the book. I signed with one of them and quickly garnered a two-book deal from BET Books, which was later purchased by Harlequin.


What do you do to combat writers block?
Fortunately, I’ve never experienced writer’s block. I’m so grateful whenever I have time to write that I’m not about to waste it staring at a blank computer screen. Writing is my job just as much as practicing law. I’d never tell a client that I couldn’t help them because I have “lawyer’s block”. So I’d never use writer’s block as an excuse for not writing.


What influences your heroines?
Usually their upbringing. If they’re unethical (nobody wants to read about a bunch of goody two-shoes) there’s something in their background that caused them to be that way.


What is the most interesting thing you’ve done in the name of research?
In Buying Time, one of my characters, Dre, is a drug dealer. I wanted to create an authentic back story for him, so I found a drug dealer who was willing to talk to me about his business. I actually went to his home and interviewed him. I have to admit that I was quite nervous since I assumed he had drugs in his place. I kept thinking, “If the police bust down the door, will they really buy my story about being a writer doing research?”


What are you currently working on?
The legal thriller I’m currently writing is another Vernetta Henderson mystery and will be the fourth book in the series. It’s called Attorney-Client Privilege. Vernetta squares off against an unscrupulous female attorney in an explosive gender discrimination case that could bring down a corporation. The story line involving her best friend Special, who joins the Nation of Islam, will make you laugh, cry and root for her until the very end. Assuming I can continue to keep all my balls in the air, Attorney-Client Privilege will be released in Spring 2011.

If you could ask readers any one question, what would it be?
What three things you like in a good mystery and three things you don’t like?

You can find Pamela here ....................

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