Women’s History Month’s Feature: L.A. Banks, Award Winning Multi-Genre Writer

Hello book lovers! In celebration of Women’s History Month, I would like to present to you, New York Times and USA Today best-selling romance, women’s fiction, suspense, dark fantasy/horror and non-fiction author, L.A. Banks. She wrote under several pen names: Leslie Esdaile, Leslie E. Banks, Leslie Esdaile Banks, Leslie Banks, and L.A. Banks and won a variety of literary awards including the 2008 ESSENCE Magazine Storyteller of the Year.

She has written over 12 novellas and 40 novels across various genres. In 2010, Dynamite Entertainment (comic book publishing imprint) acquired the publishing rights of her dark fantasy series: The Vampire Huntress Legends. Additionally, in 2000 Paramount/Showtime gave Banks the contract for her to write a series of books adapted from the hit television series, Soul Food, giving readers a peek into the lives of Teri, Maxine, Bird and their families.

I remembered meeting Banks many years ago at a writers’ conference when she taught a session about creative writing. She mentioned she was a hybrid writer (traditionally and self-published) and that it was the best of both worlds. I’m a big fan of her Betrayal of the Trust suspense series: Betrayal of the Trust, Blind Trust, Shattered Trust and No Trust. Although she is gone, she will definitely not be forgotten for the trailblazer that she was (1959 - 2011).

WRITING TIP: When writing series novels remember to open with an inciting event and create a world where readers long to return to filled with key characters whose backstories are revealed gradually.

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