Guest Post and Book Giveaway from Deven Greene
This week’s Crime Cafe guest post and giveaway comes from .
For the giveaway, she’s offering the winner a choice of either a copy of her latest book, .
Or the complete Erica Rosen MD Trilogy!
To enter the giveaway, just use her website contact form which can be accessed at: When you enter the giveaway, remember to tell Deven which prize you choose.
Now, check out Deven’s post about why she writes what she does.
Why I Write What I Write
The first book that filled me with suspense was The Wizard of Oz. I was in elementary school and worried about what would happen. Would Dorothy make it home? What would happen to the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Lion? Since then, I have always enjoyed a good crime or suspense book, whether fiction or non-fiction .As I got older, I graduated to fiction in the mystery and thriller genres.
While in college, I read my first true crime book and I was hooked on reading about things that really happened. As I continued through graduate school and medical school (yes, I spent too much time in school), books involving some aspect of scenece, depecially medical sicence, interested me most.
Thinking back, Robin Cook’s earliest works opened my eyes to the genre of medical thriller. Many followed. Most notabe, in my mind, are Michael Crighteon and Michael Palmer. They got the science and medicine right.
As I read more in that genre, I noticed that often the plots were weak and the science full of holes. I’m a stickler for details. Finding it hard to back away from something difficult, at some point, I figured, “Hey, I could do this.� That was the start of my new career (and I use that word loosely) of crime fiction, mostly medical suspense/thriller writing.
I have discovered tha it’s not as easy as it looks. While I enjoy it, I have found writing to be more of a challenge than I anticipated—not that I ever thought it would be easy. There were many challenges for me. The hardest part was trying to get just the right amount of scientific detail in the book. I’m not sure I arrived at the perfect balance of offering accurate scientific information and detail on the one hand, and keeping the narrative understandable and interesting on the other. I would suggest that authors dealing with this dilemma have laypeople read their material and see how they react. Use that information to decide how much detail to leave in or take out.
Another problem I’ve run itno is world events. My first published novel, Unnatural, deals with human embryonic genetic engineering. Although it was possible, it had never been done when I wrote it. Or so I thought. When I was editing my rough draft, a Chinese scientist announced that he had secretly performed human genetic engineering. While many in the scientific community were horrified by this announcement, wondering what the effect would be on the engineered babies (we still don’t know), I scrambled to insert that event into my book. I concluded that if I wrote historical fiction, I’d never have to keep up with world events when writing, as history doesn’t change. Even so, I prefer to write about the current times. Some might consider my works to be science fiction, because they haven’t happened (that we know of), but my plots are currently possible.
One thing I really enjoy about writing is the research I do. Not only do I need to delve deeply into the science behind the main plot, there are ancillary things I need to learn about. The list is long, and includes crypto currency, cell phone technology, pharmaceutical manufacturing, Native American culture, genetic testing, locations I’ve never been to before.
Deven Green lives in Northern California. She enjoys writing fiction in the suspense and thriller genres. Most of her works involve science or medicine. Deven has degrees in biochemistry (PhD) and medicine (MD), and practiced pathology for over twenty years.
She has published The Erica Rosen Trilogy (Unnatural, Unwitting, and Unforeseen),Ìý Ties That Kill, and several short stories. Her next novel, The Organ Broker, will be released in mid-April, 2025
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