Author: sarahjohnsonauthors

I am not a travel writer, but I would love to get paid to be one. However, while writing Dark Evil, it felt like I did a lot of traveling. Other than it being a fiction novel, I tried to make everything else as factual as possible. So that meant, I needed to research locations, in most cases, down to the street level.

I have been to:

• Phoenix, AZ
• Navajo Mountain, Utah,
• Canyon de Chelly National Monument – Massacre Cave, AZ
• Upper Delicate Arch, Utah
• Chinle, AZ
• White House Overlook, AZ
• Mummy Cave, AZ
• Apache Death Cave – Two Guns, AZ
• Canyon de Chelly National Monument – Canyon del Muerto, AZ
• Utah National Park – Delicate Arch, Utah
• Twin Lakes, MN
• Canyon Diablo, AZ

And so many more. I have never physically been to any of these places, but with the power of Google Maps and Google Earth, it’s like I was right there in the middle of the action. Essentially, I was, in a way. I experienced things virtually, which for me was just as good. Except I would have loved to get my own pictures of each place instead of experiencing everything through the pictures of others.

It’s amazing the things you learn, experience, and see when you do enough research. This novel was definitely a deep dive into research. I wanted the story to be fictional, but with a ring of truth, given the characters, their backstory, and the storyline. My hope is that people will want to read it and they will like it.

Typically when I write I need complete quiet. However, I decided to try and listen to a particular genre of music while I wrote Dark Evil. Since the book’s characters are Native American, I thought I would listen to some Native American music artists. These musical artists are not new to me. I have listened to them before, but it has been a long time. I pulled out the external hard drive where I keep all things important and searched out the music. When I found it, I then searched for it on Amazon Music, found it, and started my playlist.

I can truly thank Robbie Robertson and his album, Robbie Robertson and the Red Road Ensemble: Music For The Native Americans. I also want to thank Brulé. Their album Brulé: We the People, and various other songs from some of their other albums, helped me to write. The music would play softly in the background, and it actually helped with some writer’s block and motivation issues I was having.

You see, I originally was going to write around 80K words for my thesis. I started with around 25K and the rest had come from within…and there was a deadline. Not to mention a storyline change right from the start. Let’s just say it was a challenge. Anyway, right near the end, I needed some inspiration, and the music did it for me. I was down to the wire and had to write over 10K words, quick. I didn’t get to the 80K I wanted, but I did end up with a bit over 65K, an A for the class, and a 3.984 grade point average.

This time, music helped me out.