Today I welcome YA suspense author Jill Hedgecock to my blog. The third and final installment in Jill’s Shadow the Doberman Series, In Shadow’s Reflection, released last November. This standalone sequel continues the trials of orphaned teen Sarah Whitman and her ghost-seeing Doberman, Shadow. An earthquake releases the psychopathic Dr. Griffin from jail, thrusting Sarah back into imminent danger. But perhaps an even bigger shake up occurs when a DNA test awakens ghosts from her past that upend Sarah’s beliefs about herself and her family.
In Shadow’s Reflection concludes the tension-filled, ghost-story series that began with Between Shadow’s Eyes and From Shadow’s Perspective.
What inspired you to write this series?
My three Doberman novels, Between Shadow’s Eyes, From Shadow’s Perspective, and In Shadow’s Reflection, were inspired by my dog Shadow who used to bark at an empty corner of my dining room. When we first moved into our house, the original owner came by and told me her teen son died in a car accident. I wondered if my Shadow might be seeing the ghost of this teen boy. Also, Shadow loved to be petted between his eyes. I pulled the two ideas into the premise that a dog could see ghosts and that if a human put their fingers in the space between the pup’s eyes, they could see the spirits, too. From there, my imagination ran with the premise.
Shadow the Doberman is a huge part of the appeal of these books. Tell us what inspired your choice of this breed for Sarah’s sweet canine companion.
Shadow wasn’t a Doberman in the early drafts. The dog character was a border collie mix like my own pet. But I like my novels to have an educational aspect, and the Doberman breed has been vilified by Hollywood. Having been around Dobermans in the past, I knew that when raised in the right environment, these dogs are very sweet. So, when a famous Doberman, Ruby, became the avatar for my dog rescue column in The Diablo Gazette, a local newspaper, I saw a way I could educate the public about the sweet side of Doberman breed in my novels.
Each book in your Shadow series contains a standalone mystery, but Sarah’s adventures continue and build with each successive installment. When you first released Between Shadow’s Eyes, had you planned for this to be a trilogy? When did the ideas for the second and third books come to you?
Great questions. I always envisioned the Shadow series to be a trilogy. From the outset, I knew that the second book, From Shadow’s Perspective, would revolve around teen relationships and that Kyle would be an integral character. I also knew before I finished Between Shadow’s Eyes that the third book, In Shadow’s Reflection, would be about Sarah’s mother. In the second book, Paul insinuated his presence as I wrote the first draft and I saw a lot of potential for growth in his story arc. He ended up shifting the focus of the novel away from Kyle. I also knew the basis for the set of rules (Game Plan Rules and Relationship Rules) would come from her dad in the first two books. In the third book, the idea for Paul’s Good Boyfriend Rules unfolded as I wrote the book.
Without spoiling the ending, there is a pivotal reveal at the climax of In Shadow’s Reflection. Looking back through the first two books in the series, I see places where you had been setting this up from the beginning. You had deftly dropped the bread crumbs. You must have had this in mind from the start. Do you have a system for keeping track of all these details?
Yes, I did plan for the twist in Book 3 from the outset of the series. I am mostly a “pantser”, which means I don’t typical do an outline, though I usually do a muse board (see below) in advance of starting a novel. I wrote the first two novels back-to-back, so keeping the plotting details straight for the twist was relatively easy. I published a second novel in my rhino series, Queen of the Rhino, between From Shadow’s Perspective and In Shadow’s Reflection, so I had to cross check the first two books for the “bread crumbs” and make sure the twist held together.
I know that you are a huge advocate of muse boards. Briefly tell us what a muse board is. How does it help you? Do you create a single muse board for the whole series? Or did you create separate boards for each book?
A muse board is a visual aid that I use to keep track of details and help organize my book. I developed the tool because I was tired of searching through text looking for someone’s eye or hair color and because it’s much easier to describe something if you’re looking at photo. Electronic muse boards are one option, but I use a standard 36- by 48-inch tri-fold presentation display board because it mimics the proper text proportions of story structure: a beginning 25%, middle (50%) and end (25%). The size also makes it large enough to give me a snapshot of the essential elements of an entire plot. I affix photos of my characters, bits of text, and I keep a spot open for my book cover, so that I can bring the board to book signing events. At events, my muse boards are great conversation starters and can pique the interest of a potential costumer. They take a bit of time to prepare, but the benefits make it time well spent. For the Shadow series, I only created one board for the whole series because it was mostly the same characters and setting. For my rhino series, I made a muse board for each book since each book takes place in a different African country and there were quite a few new characters between the two books.
All three of your Shadow books are now available as audiobooks as part of Amazon’s Audible subscription program. How did that come about? What did you think of the process?
Having the opportunity to create audiobooks was a total surprise. I received an email out of the blue that two of my books were eligible to be part of Amazon’s beta testing program. Unfortunately, Amazon had only created audio files for the second and third novels in the series, but when I reached out to Amazon, they agreed to add Between Shadow’s Eyes to the program. Amazon created the computer-generated audio files and all I had to do was listen to them and correct the pronunciation as needed. For example, there were times where some words such as “read” (as in I had “red” a book) and read as in (I need to “reed” that novel) needed correction. There were multiple voices to select from, and I was pleased with the quality. The computer voice isn’t perfect, but occasional voice inflections often made it seem like a real human was reading it. I really enjoyed the editing process. To hear a sample of the audiobook, click here: Between-Shadows-Eyes Audio Sample .
I hope you’ve enjoyed this interview with Jill Hedgecock. Jill’s Shadow books are available in paperback, e-book, and now as audiobooks on Amazon. To learn more about these and Jill’s other suspense novels, visit her website at https://www.jillhedgecock.com.
The Amazon link for In Shadow’s Reflection can be found here.