Skye Taylor – St Johns County Writer

8 min read

Skye Taylor is a very good fiction writer living and working in St. Johns County Florida. I just got finished reading two of her short stories that she is offering for FREE on Kindle and was impressed with her storytelling. I’m not much into romance as I use to be and may not buy any of the other stories but I do love a good mystery. I hope her “Bullseye: A Jesse Quinn Mystery” which was published this month turns out well for her. I see from her website updates that she is currently working on the second book in the Jesse Quinn Mystery series to be published next year.

Brief Bio

Skye Taylor, mother, grandmother and returned Peace Corps volunteer, lives in St. Augustine Florida, soaking up the history, taking daily walks along one of the prettiest beaches and writing novels. She posts a semi-weekly blog and a monthly newsletter, volunteers with the USO and is currently working on book two in her new Jesse Quinn Mystery series. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Florida Writers Association, and Sisters in Crime.

As for her writing, that’s an adventure, too. The stories just need telling and sometimes her characters tell her what’s going to happen instead of the other way around. During Skye’s time in the Peace Corps, a number of essays about life and work in a different culture appeared in her local paper.

Contact the Author

Email for Fans: Skye@Skye-writer.com
Website for Fans: https://www.Skye-writer.com
Facebook Public Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/Skyewriter2/
Twitter Writer Account: https://twitter.com/Skyewriter22
Amazon Profile Page: https://www.amazon.com/Skye-Taylor/e/B008BT8ZNG
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7056804.Skye_Taylor

Published Works

Romance
The Camerons of Tide’s Way Series
Falling for Zoe – Book 1 – 2014
Loving Meg – Book 2 – 2014
Loving Ben – Novella – 2015 (Free on Kindle)
Trusting Will – Book 3 – 2015
Healing a Hero – Book 4 – 2016
Mike’s Wager – Novella – 2017 (Free on Kindle)
Keeping His Promise – Book 5 – 2018
Worry Stone – Book 6 – 2019

Ian’s Plaid – 2017

Mainstream Fiction
The Candidate (AKA – Whatever It Takes) – 2016

Mystery
Bullseye: A Jesse Quinn Mystery – 2020

Contributor
Snowbird Christmas – Vol 2 – Holiday Stories to Warm Your Heart – 2012
Bake, Love, Write: 105 Authors Share Dessert Recipes and Advice on Love and Writing – 2014
We’d Rather Be Writing – 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips – 2015

Interview Questions

What other authors are you friends with, and how did they help you become a better writer?

When I began my first mystery, I was reading books by C. Hope Clark that I thoroughly enjoyed and when we got to be friends, she offered to critique my new book. Her success as a mystery writer has helped me make the jump from romance to mystery, learning what the important differences are and how to keep my reader glued to the mystery. But I am also friends with a whole rafter of other writers I learn from. One group, we call ourselves the Sandy Scribblers, meets once a month for brainstorming and mutual encouragement and support. I always come home from our meetings eager to get to work and energized even if I’d been stalling out before. Two other writers who’ve helped me develop my writing skills are Elizabeth Sinclair and Nancy Quatrano. Ms. Sinclair was patient when I was just learning how to put a romance together and Ms. Quatrano is always there to brainstorm or work out a problem with my current work.

What’s the best money I ever spent as a writer?

Conferences. Every conference I’ve been to I’ve learned something new, networked, and met other writers. There are always workshops to choose from, some turn out to be not so much, but most of them teach me something new or give me a new direction, solve a problem or fire me up. One in particular, when I was writing my mainstream novel, The Candidate, I was about 2/3 of the way through and felt like I had half a dozen horses all pulling in different directions. But I went to a two-part workshop where the presenter drew a simple diagram on the whiteboard showing how character arcs intersect with the story arc leaving each of the individual characters either for or against your protagonists. It was like a light turning on in my head. I came home and immediately knew how to finish the book. Best money spent ever. Networking and meeting other authors is also a plus from every conference I’ve ever been to.

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

This depends on the genre. For my historical, I not only was familiar with the period to start with and I grew up just outside of Boston and Salem where some of the action takes place, but I went on field trips, both to the island which really exists off the coast of Maine and Boston and Salem, taking photos to refer to and soaking up the ambiance. I also read journals and letters from the time period to get an idea of how people spoke. For my contemporary romances, I did make a 3-day visit to the area where my fictional town is set. I also researched K-9s as used in the military, law enforcement, and service animals, but the time spent researching contemporary was far less because I live in today’s world. My new series is set right here in St Augustine so I can take field trips any time I need to. Google maps are also helpful to “see” where things are and what they look like even without leaving my desk. My research for this mystery series included ride-alongs with two deputies and a 12 week Citizens Law Enforcement Academy where we learned about so many aspects of police procedure, from how tasers work, to a tour of the jail and courthouse, financing a sheriff’s office, how specialized task forces work, forensics and so much more. In addition, I asked for a tour of the Medical Examiner’s office including the morgue where autopsies are performed. I am also fortunate to have made the acquaintance of the only female deputy on the Major Crimes squad and she is only a text away whenever I have a specific question that comes up while I’m writing. I have also found, along the way, that all kinds of people are more than happy to share their world with you when you tell them you are a writer and trying to understand what their jobs involve. So, I do research before I begin writing, but there always seems to be something or several somethings that pop up needing answers while writing so the research is ongoing all the time.

Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections?

The answer to this question is both. I want a reader to be able to pick up any of my books and not find themselves wondering if they’ve missed something because they didn’t read the previous books in the series. So, all my books can be read in any order, but there are connections in the series. Once a reader has met the Camerons, for instance, I want them eager to find out what happens to the rest of the sibling. I’ve been rewarded by readers who’ve commented that they want to invite the Camerons over for dinner, or go to Tide’s Way and meet them. Drawing my readers in and making them care about that family is rewarding. In my new series, totally different genres, I made one of my main characters a relative of the Camerons of Tide’s Way so any of my readers who liked that series might have a warm cozy moment when they recognize the name and find out he’s a cousin. But in this series, there will be a connecting story arc that flows from one book to the next. Each mystery will be independent, but my heroine’s personal life with grow with each book.

Video Interview of Author

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jolenemac66 https://websandblogsforwriters.com

I am a retired medical office worker who sold everything, bought an old RV and began traveling around the state of Florida with her mother and youngest daughter. We have settled down in the Lake City, Florida area for now as I am writing another book and have began taking on website design and social media content creator clients.

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