“I didn’t write with intent of writing a book, I write as a method of stress reliever.”
Jacqueline Nen from SHP, but Morobe by virtue of marriage never thought she would publish a book, a suspense-thriller novel for that matter. But she did, making her the first Papua New Guinean to write and publish a suspense-thriller novel.
Jacqueline was raised by a teacher-mum so writing was something she did growing up.
“As soon as I could put write the alphabet and my numbers, I began writing short stories.”
Even through High School, Jacqueline continued writing but this time began writing much longer stories.
She recalled her high schooling days at Kilakila Secondary in Port Moresby where she had an exercise book filled with stories.
“I would write a chapter each night and would bring the book to school the next day and my friends would read it during our lunch breaks.”
She had a particular interest in ‘Suspense-Thriller’ novels and some of her favourite female authors are Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, and Tara Moss.
Last year, she published her first book “The Game Changer: Logan Legacy Series”.
She recently spoke to EMTV Online about her book.
The novel The Game Changer: Logan Legacy Series follows the life of Inspector Lisa Logan and Jamie Maddox.
A shadowy predator Z abducts single mothers and stages their bodies in various locations around Sydney without leaving a single shred of trace evidence. Lisa Logan and her team of investigators find themselves in a race against time as the body count rises.
When Jamie Maddox, a widow unwittingly wanders into the cross-hairs of the police investigation, they cannot decide if she is a potential victim or if she knows more than she is telling. Logan, caught in a battle with her own demons, and being drawn inexplicably towards the enigmatic Jamie, finds herself on a precipice of a rabbit hole of mystery, the occult and animism.
Can Logan unravel the mystery surrounding Jamie and unmask Z before he kills again?
For those who love crime and suspense-thriller fiction novels, you could tell by reading the excerpt, it’s already a good read.
Jacqueline began writing the book in 2003 when her eldest daughter was just seven-years-old.
She writes wherever she’s most comfortable at, for example her kitchen.
“I’ve tried this whole process of trying to book a room and write but that didn’t work for me.”
“So I wrote this book from the comfort of my kitchen bench as I am much closer to the fridge if I am hungry, I could just whip up a snack or if I wanted to wash my face, I could easily go to the bathroom and back,” said the mother of three.
By 2014, the manuscript had undergone 28 edits and Jacqueline decided to put the manuscript away and focused on raising her three children and career for the next 5 years.
It was until in 2019 when tragedy struck forcing her to return to the manuscripts.
She had lost her husband Thomas Nen, her Father-In-law, mother, aunt and her first grand-child, all within months of each other.
“To deal with the grief, I pulled out the manuscript and rewrote the book by including elements such as Facebook which was not popular in 2003 but popular now,” said Jacqueline.
“I didn’t write with intent of writing a book, I write as a method of stress reliever,” she added.
After 17 years, The Game Changer: Logan’s Legacy Series, was ready.
Jacqueline recalled her meeting with the publishers:
“When the editors read my final manuscript, they would not believe that the book has been written by a Papua New Guinean,” she recalls.
The book was published on April 17 2020 on Amazon Kindle.
Jacqueline’s book The Game Changer: Logan’s Legacy Series is available on Amazon Kindle (soft-copy) for just $0.73 which is equivalent to K2.57. Or if you would prefer reading the hard-copy, you will have to wait till end of March or early April to grab a copy for yourself.
This is the first time a Papua New Guinean has written a Suspense-Thriller novel and is certainly not the last; Jacqueline has already working on Part Two of the book.
For those of you who love reading crime and suspense-thrillers, this is a book you do not want to skip.
And for aspiring novel writers she offers this advice to you:
“Do not write with the thought that there is a book coming out, just write every day. Set a daily goal and write!”
If you want more information about the book or would like to know more about the author, she has a Facebook page you can follow: J.K. Nen.
You can buy her book via this link: https://www.amazon.com/Game-Changer-Logans…/dp/B086ZZ3Y1H
