Deep Fathom

After writing SUBTERRANEAN, where I indulged my interest in caving, I always wanted to do something with my other passion: scuba diving. So at the back of my mind, I was very tuned to plots involving the deep sea. And one day while reading about the mythology of the Polynesian islands and the different theories of migration of peoples through the region, a story slowly arose about a long-lost civilization with an ancient technology that resurfaces to threaten our own.

I always considered writing as a way to write-off trips. For DEEP FATHOM, I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and spent a month in China touring the countryside.

I usually start with a “what if?” idea. In the case of Deep Fathom, “what if an ancient power source imbedded on the ocean floor were suddenly activated by the radiation from a solar storm. From that point, I assemble the cast of characters, build in a global crisis, and thread in subplots and internal conflicts. During this time, I research heavily—in libraries, on the Internet, through interviews. Once all is ready, I begin to write.

When I first created Ashley, my heroine in SUBTERRANEAN, I purposefully wanted to create a female version of Indiana Jones. A spunky, no-holds-barred archaeologist who just happened to be a woman with a young child. I so enjoyed playing against the common stereotypes found in adventure fiction that I’ve included strong women in all my books. But which is easier? I think its actually easier to develop three-dimensional women, rather than men, because men keep their hearts more deeply hidden. It’s harder to show their vulnerabilities.