Spotlight: Historical & Thriller Writer Suanne Schafer
Today we dive deeper into the brilliance of award-winning, best-selling author of Hunting the Devil, and Passion & Paint; Suanne Schafer!
Spotlights are back again, and this time I had the opportunity of showcasing Suanne Schafer and her work. Author of books like Passion & Paint, and Hunting the Devil, Suanne is an incredibly talented historical thriller writer.
Diving into this spotlight, you’ll get to learn more about Suanne herself— through questions uncovering her relationship with writer’s block, how she handles difficult scenes, and more. After that, we’ll get into the gritty with her books, diving in each one’s synopsis, where you can buy them, and of course all her other links.
Before we kick things off though, you can support Suanne and her work by checking out her website, or social media (BlueSky, Facebook, and Instagram). You can also find her on our book directory, The BookStack Catalog. Okay, let’s jump to the spotlight!
Below are some questions Debra answered for the Spotlight.
What is the writing process like for you?
I start with a rough idea for a story which I replay in my head like a movie and rewrite scenes until they feel right. (My work reads very visually for this reason.) Then I sit at the computer and hammer it out, stopping to research something as I need to rather than getting sucked down a rabbit hole. I start each day’s writing by revising the work from the day before. I’m coming to terms with the idea that I really like sagas and 100,000 words is about right for me.
How do you get inside your characters' heads?
The heroine of Passion & Paint was inspired by my maternal grandmother, and the woman in Hunting the Devil by female physicians like myself. The main characters in Dust Bowl Odyssey were inspired by my grandparents and by the characters in Homer’s Odyssey. Because I’m so close to these characters, it was easy to get into their heads.
What drew you to your genres?
I’ve always enjoyed reading historical fiction and thrillers, so I gravitated to those genre naturally. I don’t particularly like romance (I say it’s due to a “genetic distrust of happily-ever-afters), though I read one occasionally. There is a thread of romance through most of my works, though it may be a bit twisted.
What does your relationship with "Writer's Block" look like?
I often have two works in progress open at the same time on my computer. If I get stuck on one, I move to the other for a while. Being a retired physician who’s dealt with enough stress in her life, I don’t worry about writer’s block. When I feel like writing, I do; when I don’t I don’t; though I try to write SOMETHING, however little, daily.
When you're writing difficult or emotional scenes, how do you prop the mood?
I usually save those scenes for last. By then I know my characters so well I can predict how they will behave under trying conditions. I also try to make their reactions consistent with their lives. For instance, when the artist in Passion & Paint has a stillbirth, she views that child, not only in the eyes of a mother, but in artistic terms: When her boy was perfectly garbed, she cradled his skull and, with her hand, fixed its geometry in her brain. Her thumb inscribed the arc of his brow in her memory. Her nose imprinted the scent from the crook of his neck on her dreams. The pad of a finger applied the burnished new-penny color of his hair to her mind’s palette. Her arms held him, awed by how his tiny body made her soul feel so heavy. Finally she sketched her son so she would never forget his innocent face.
Below is an excerpt Suanne included for the showcase.
What was the most difficult part of getting a book published or self-published?
I loathe querying. I queried my first book nearly 100 times before getting a publisher; my second book sold within two hours of submission. Once my first two books were published, the publisher went out of business. I got the rights back, but then decided I’d self-publish rather than query again. So far, I’ve really enjoyed the process of self-publishing and the control I have over the cover and content, down to choosing the editor and proofreaders.
How do you process and handle receiving negative reviews or comments?
I rarely read my reviews, good or bad. When I happen to run across a good one, I rejoice. I tend to ignore the bad ones, partly because it’s humanly impossible to please everyone who reads your books.
I’ve also read some really devastating reviews written about other people’s books and realized that with the anonymity of the world-wide web, people often don’t bother being kind or discrete, but merely lambast the author personally or the contents of their books. I’d like to call for the return of general civility to book reviews.
What is a piece of advice you've received which has helped propel your writing forward?
Someone advised me to NOT write what I know. That has allowed me to expand the dimensions and emotions of my characters and settings.
Without spoiling your books, is there a character you've written you relate to most? How has it evolved your writing?
The character I relate to most is Dr. Jessica Hemings in Hunting the Devil. Like myself, she is a physician and has spent time in Africa. Her story moved me from writing plain historical fiction to writing a historical thriller. I fell in love with Africa when reading Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan series as a young teen. I was able to take my love and fascination for Africa and place a strong woman there and have her best by occurrences beyond her control and have her rise above them.
Is there anyone who inspired you to write your books?
When I decided to start writing, I enrolled in Stanford University’s Novel Writing Certificate program. Under the guidance of my wonderful professors and a cohort of intellectually stimulating, well-read, and consistently kind fellow students, I honed my skills. I am still in touch with these folks ten years later.
And do you have any reading recommendations?
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
The Poisonwood Bible and Demon Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver
The Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry
The Gabriel Allon spy series by Daniel Silva
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
The Round House, Antelope Woman, and LaRose by Louise Erdrich
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
The Highway 59 series by Attica Locke
The Leaphorn/Chee mystery series by Tony Hillerman and Anne Hillerman
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Cork O’Connor series by William Kent Krueger
The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
In this section we’ll be going through Suanne’s work, any upcoming releases, and social links. Synopsis for each book or series is pulled from their webpage.
Hunting the Devil
In response to the worldwide epidemic of genocides and to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, Suanne Schafer has issued a second edition of Hunting the Devil, revised and with a new Author’s Note. The electronic edition will be free from April 7 through July 15, 2024, the hundred days the 1994 genocide lasted.
When biracial physician Jessica Hemings volunteers for a medical mission in Rwanda, she becomes entrapped in the maelstrom of Rwandan politics and the enmity between Hutu and Tutsi. Her US passport doesn’t afford the security she’d hoped for as her Tutsi-like features plunge her into horrors of the Rwandan Genocide. Dr. Cyprien Gatera, Jess’s superior and a Hutu militant, commandeers her clinic, forces her to treat his wounded, and then slaughters her patients and her adopted sons. She escapes and finds refuge at Benaco refugee camp in Tanzania.
There, beset by grief, hatred, and PTSD, Jess vows revenge. With the help of Michel Fournier, a French lawyer-turned-war-correspondent, and Dr. Tom Powell, her ex-lover, she searches for Gatera who has fled Rwanda to escape post-genocide reprisals. When an unknown informant passes information to Jess about her nemesis, she returns to Rwanda, despite warnings from the Belgian Secret Service that Gatera plans to assassinate her. In their final showdown, Jess must decide if revenge is best served cold or not at all.
Part medical procedural, part global political thriller, part vigilante novel, and part fractured romance, Hunting the Devil moves from the dusty washboard roads of Rwanda to an inner-city hospital in America to the Natural History Museum of Belgium to the halls of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania as it deftly traces one woman’s journey toward justice.
Passion & Paint
Formerly A Different Kind of Fire, Passion & Paint depicts one woman’s battle to balance husband, family, career, and ambition. Torn between her childhood sweetheart, her forbidden passion for another woman, the nobleman she had to marry, and becoming a renowned painter, Ruby’s choices mold her in ways she could never have foreseen.
Ruby Schmidt has the talent, the drive, even the guts to enroll in art school, leaving behind her childhood home and the beau she always expected to marry. Her life at the Academy seems heavenly at first, but she soon learns that societal norms in the East are as restrictive as those back home in West Texas. Rebelling against the insipid imagery women are expected to produce, Ruby embraces bohemian life. Her burgeoning sexuality drives her into a life-long love affair with another woman and into the arms of an Italian baron. With the Panic of 1893, the nation spirals into a depression, and Ruby’s career takes a similar downward trajectory. After thinking she could have it all, Ruby, now pregnant and broke, returns to Texas rather than join the queues at the neighborhood soup kitchen. She discovers her life back home is as challenging as that in Philadelphia.
When asked about upcoming releases, Suanne had this to share:
Dust Bowl Odyssey—cover pending—due out December 2025. This is a loose retelling of Homer’s Odyssey set between 1935 and 1945. To keep from losing their Texas ranch, Llewellyn Roderick leaves his wife Penny behind as he journeys to California to follow the migrant farm routes. It’s the joint story of his odyssey, his war against rising dust and a falling economy, and her trials while remaining at home, trying to hold things together while he’s gone.
This historical saga has a dual inspiration: Homer’s Odyssey and my grandparents. My maternal grandfather left his wife and baby daughter behind while he followed the migrant farm routes during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. My parents grandparents, much like Llew and Penny, were cattle ranchers and nearly lost the land that been in the family since the 1870s because they were too poor to pay the taxes.
For those looking for shorter reads, I will be putting out several short stories in the fall on 2025. “A Bullet for the Lady in Red” is a spy thriller with a twist. “Cupid Is Stupid” will be a three-story romance series set in a West Texas honky-tonk, all with a second chance at love. In “The Fourth Dimension of Love,” an emergency room doctor and a potter create their own second chance at love.
It sounds like Suanne has an exciting year in store for everyone! And once again, you can get updates by subscribing to her website’s newsletter. Or if you’d prefer social media, then following her Bluesky, Facebook, or Instagram works, too!
Thanks again Suanne for allowing me the honor of featuring you in this Spotlight. I look forward to seeing all the cool stories you have coming out later, and I hope anyone still reading is as well.
And thank you to each and every one of you, as well! Sticking all the way through and showing your support— well, it means a lot! I hope you enjoyed today’s spotlight, and we’ll see you in the next one. Buh-bye!
It looks like I forgot to make some of the graphics have transparent backgrounds— so I’ll fix that later