Bob Morris on the Inspiration for His Zack Chasteen Book Series

Ideas for a novel can come from anywhere. As the former editor for Caribbean Travel & Life magazine, Bob Morris had the privilege of traveling to and writing about beautiful, exotic places. It was while walking the beach in the Bahamas that Morris got the idea to write the first novel in his Zack Chasteen series Bahamarama. He immediately went back to his cottage, wrote the first chapter, and brainstormed about a series of books, all set in different Caribbean islands. There were plenty of mystery and suspense novels in the marketplace that were set in Florida, but setting the stories in the Caribbean provided a new twist. Morris knew that approaching agents and publishers with a proposal for a series would put him in a strong position, but he focused on making the first book as good as possible. So good, in fact, that Bahamarama was a finalist for the Edgar Allen Poe award. Now an author of several books and essay collections, as well as owner of an independent publishing company, Morris advises writers who aspire to write a series to take it one step at a time, setting a solid foundation with that first book.

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