AMY CHRISTINE PARKER writes full-time from her home near Tampa, Florida, where she lives with her husband, their two daughters, and one ridiculously fat cat. FLIGHT 171 is her latest novel.

Amy's Tip:

My best writing tip is this: when revising, look for ways to push your characters in new and surprising ways. Often in a first draft I tend to play it safe with character behavior because I am so wrapped up in getting the general plot down. My characters’ actions and reactions are really my own—what I think a person would do given this set of circumstances. When I am revising, I brainstorm some unexpected character reactions—as many as I can—and consider what they will do to the plot and tension as well as how it will deepen the characters themselves.

For example, what if there are two characters sitting at a kitchen table eating breakfast and one of them asks the other for a divorce? What happens next? My initial rough-draft-inclination is to have the character receiving the divorce news be distraught and cry. But what if instead, they laugh hysterically? Or shut down completely and ignore the conversation? What if they pick up their breakfast fork and plunge it into their own hand—or their partner’s? Every reaction has a different set of scene outcomes. Each one suggests something completely different about this character and their relationship to their partner. Some reactions inflate tension while others deflate it. Some will shock readers more than others. It’s important to consider as many options as possible so you don’t short-change your characters or the plot, but instead push it to new levels.

Annabel Paulsen

Annabel Paulsen is a Brooklyn-based writer obsessed with sad music and the 1890s. Her perfect day involves a bloody mary, a historical home tour, and an early-2000s rom-com.

Sally Blakely

Sally Blakely has been a teacher, a radio station underwriter, a barista, and concert crowd control. She lives, writes, and fangirls in Montana.

ARCHANGEL'S RESURRECTION by Nalini Singh

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For thousands of years, the passion between Alexander, Archangel of Persia, and Zanaya, Queen of the Nile, burned furious and bright, seemingly without end. But to be an archangel is to be bound to power violent and demanding. Driven by its primal energy, Alexander and Zanaya fought as fiercely as they loved, locked in an endless cycle of devotion and heartbreak. It is only Zanaya’s decision to Sleep that ends their love story.

EXTRA WITCHY by Ann Aguirre

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After two failed marriages, Leanne Vanderpol is here for a good time, not for a long time. She only loves the witches in her coven, and she cares more about her career than happily ever after. A difficult past makes her skittish, and she doesn't trust relationships to stick. But when she decides to run for city council instead of wasting her talents cleaning up messes for the mayor's office, she fears her past could be used against her.

IMPROBABLY YOURS by Kerry Anne King

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SHERLOCK HOLMES AND MR HYDE by Christian Klaver

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FLIGHT 171 by Amy Christine Parker

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In this edge-of-your-seat horror novel, a four-hour flight takes a nightmarish turn when a supernatural creature gives a group of high school students a sinister ultimatum.

Devon Marsh is haunted by secrets. Like the identity of the person who killed her twin sister, Emily, in a hit and run accident last Halloween, which Devon has vowed to uncover. Like the things Devon said to Emily just before she died.

EVIDENCE UNCOVERED by Jacquelin Thomas

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THE PHOTO THEIF by J. L. Delozier

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PROTECTED BY THE TEXAS RANCHER by Karen Whiddon

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