Emilie Richards | Why I Became a Serial Killer

Emilie Richards

A serial killer? Well, I didn't become one, of course. Not exactly. But lately, and I have to admit the following part is true, people are dropping dead all around me. And by my hand.

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Of course my hand is on the computer keyboard whenever bad things happen. And the people dropping dead? Not nice people, for the most part. People you and I would cross the street to avoid. People who enjoy causing trouble for others. People who are sure the world revolves around them.

Serial killers get to choose their victims. And there are so many places to look. Take reality shows, for instance. Haven't you ever wanted to rid the world–or at least the television studio–of some of those judges? You know the ones I mean. They're sarcastic and egotistic and often downright cruel, all in the name of ratings. They're the ones we love to hate, and still, like bystanders staring at a train wreck, we just can't seem to pull ourselves away.

Well, I got rid of one of them this year.

got you hooked? read the rest of Emilie's blog...

Allison Brennan | Where do you get your ideas?

That's the single most common question I receive when I speak to reading groups. The thing is, it's not an easy question to answer. There's not one repository of ideas, nor can I point to one source of inspiration. My stories come from multiple sources--snippets of ideas, views, sounds, articles--that simmer in the slow cooker of my muse. Then wham! I have the story beginning and I start writing.

Take my current trilogy. "An earthquake at San Quentin Prison precipitates the escape of several death row inmates." Sounds easy, right? Well . . . it took me weeks to come up with the premise. The only thing I knew when I started KILLING FEAR (Feb 08) was that Detective Will Hooper, the partner of my heroine in SPEAK NO EVIL (Feb 07) was the hero.

An article I read mentioned some California legislators talking about selling San Quentin--437 acres of prime real estate on the San Francisco Bay. I remembered that in SPEAK NO EVIL, I'd had Will testify at an appeal hearing against Theodore Glenn, a killer on death row who Will had put away seven years before for murdering four strippers. I re-read the scene where Will tells Carina he has to leave while they're in the middle of an investigation, and there was maybe two paragraphs about Glenn. But already he intrigued me, and I wondered how I could get him out of prison.

It's rare to escape from San Quentin. I heard a news report about California sending prisoners to other states for incarceration because of prison overcrowding. I wondered if Glenn would be a candidate for transport--but thought it would be too contrived. Train wreck, plane crash, bunch of killers survive. Been there. I researched the history of San Quentin just to become familiar with it, trying to see if there was at least a possible way to escape--even if it wasn't probable. Then I came across a seismic report about the structural integrity of San Quentin buildings and all of the sudden wham! I had it. Earthquake.

A dozen prisoners escape and most are caught off page in KILLING FEAR, except of course Theodore Glenn who returns to San Diego to seek revenge on all those who put him in prison--including Will Hooper who arrested him and Robin McKenna, the former stripper who testified against him and had been Will's lover.

In TEMPTING EVIL (on sale now), two killers are trapped in a secluded resort during a blizzard in Montana, and one of them is obsessed with romance writer Joanna Sutton who is seeking peace at her family lodge four years after the murder of her husband and son.

And in the upcoming PLAYING DEAD (Oct 08), the one innocent escapee--Tom O'Brien, an ex-cop who was responsible for capturing most of the remaining fugitives--has to convince his daughter that he didn't kill his wife--her mother--and to help him find the real killer. Claire, who at 14 testified against her father, is now a no-nonsense fraud investigator who doesn't believe her father is innocent, but her curiosity compels her to at least follow-up on his claims.

The premise alone isn't the whole story--just the spark that gets me started. Similar disparate threads and ideas get woven together to create the hero and heroine, their individual histories, and different plot points.

It's impossible to point to any one thing that ignites the story, so being asked Where do you get your ideas is never an easy question to answer, but I guarantee every book has a different backstory. And that’s part of the fun of writing--I never know where my ideas really come from, I just hope and pray they keep coming!

Allison Brennan




Allison's website (and trailer for Killing Fear): http://allisonbrennan.com/
Radio Ad for Tempting Evil: http://allisonbrennan.com/index2.html
Excerpts: http://allisonbrennan.com/books.html

Blogs:
Personal: http://allisonbrennan.com/blog
Group: http://murdershewrites.com/
Group: http://fogcitydivas.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/allisonbrennan1

Karen Harrington | When a man loves a woman…who murders

When a central character is still deeply in love with someone you and I would judge harshly, for, say, murder, that presents a challenge for the writer. How can readers be sympathetic to a misguided, love-struck protagonist? And does a writer necessarily have to sympathize with him?
I know all about this challenge.

In my debut novel JANEOLOGY, Tom Nelson is still in love with the woman who has destroyed his life. He misses her. He craves her. He wants to touch her. He wants to talk to her over a cup of coffee the way they used to as friends. But this is never going to happen.

The story begins with Tom’s horrific discovery that his wife Jane drowned their toddler son. An act he feels is so out of character that it defies logic. Now, he judges himself harshly for still loving the woman he thought he knew. The world quickly vilifies Jane and urges him to join in their group hate. If that weren’t enough, prosecutors charge him with ‘failure to protect’ believing he should have known Jane was ill and shielded his child from her. This legal charge only makes Tom delve deeper into questioning his love for Jane. Was it misplaced, he wonders throughout his own trial? Is he, in fact, partially responsible as the prosecutor alleges? And what does he make of his attorney’s bold defense: that Jane’s nature and nurture conspired to make her ill-equipped to be a loving parent?

I began writing this story with the central question: what causes a mother to kill her own child? I could not ignore this question. It didn’t seem to add up that a mother could be pouring Cheerios one minute and be altered the next. Someone in her family, I reasoned, had to have witnessed the decline. It had to have taken place over a period of days, weeks and months – not overnight. While the horrible murder sets JANEOLOGY in motion, the novel is really a story of a man desperate to for understanding.

The idea that we sometimes miss changes in loved ones precisely because we love them began to take shape. I realized, at least in the fictional world of JANEOLOGY, that a spouse like Tom could indeed still love the person he originally knew without acknowledging the person she had become. We are all guilty of this at times. Time stands still in the face of love. And that is what happens to Tom Nelson to his profound detriment.

I invite you to read an excerpt of the novel by visiting my website http://www.karenharringtonbooks.com/

You can also view the video trailer for JANEOLOGY below, which so hauntingly couples water imagery with hints of dark family secrets trickling down among the generations of Jane’s troubled family. The unrelenting tribal drumbeat of the music ratchets-up the tension until you feel like the hairs on your neck stand at attention and you have to know what happens. (Fortunate author that I am, this trailer was created by THE inventor of the novel trailer art form, Kam Wai Yu, who has been developing this art since the 1980s.)



Thanks to FreshFiction for inviting me to blog here today among so many great authors.

See you on the bookshelves!

Karen Harrington

Susan Whitfield | Tangled in seaweed and Testicles?

Genesis Beach, my first novel (published in 2007) tells the story of an investigative intern on North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, who is trying to solve the murder of a millionaire. Imagine her surprise when she discovers he was beaten to death with a sock! She pursues a prime suspect who is a slippery rascal (to borrow a phrase from the movie, Pretty Woman). While in pursuit, Logan Hunter must deal with a hurricane that wipes out most of her worldly possessions. At the same time she is having recurring sleep terrors that threaten to derail her when she realizes she may have been molested as a toddler. Her strength and determination keep her in the hunt, and she nails the killer even though she trusted the wrong person.

Just North of Luck evolved out of my need to carry on with Logan Hunter’s character. (Reader feedback indicated that she was likable and, perhaps, worthy of a few more adventures.) Logan is assigned to corral some bootleggers in the remote mountains of North Carolina when two murders occur. Once the SBI (State Bureau of Investigation) is called in, Logan takes the lead and teams up with hunky Chase Railey, a local detective. Together they pursue the killer but not before more victims are added to the list. The serial killer is targeting school employees and using a diversity of means to off them, causing some of the murders to be classified as accidents. Over the months of investigation, Chase introduces Logan to Appalachian festivals, including The Testicle Festival. Yes, that’s what I said. Now, I must explain that there really is NO festival like this in North Carolina, as far as I know. However, I thought it would be fun to add such an event to an intense setting. It adds humor, I hope, (Logan is coerced into eating the delicacies), shock, and a much-needed break from the gruesome murders. Logan gets her first taste of love when Chase takes her to his cabin, and together they zero in on the killer. So, this book offers killing folks, eating testicles, and making love.

When I’m not writing, I’m reading. I keep a basket of books by my sunroom rocking chair at all times. I read all genres. At one time in my life I read only best selling authors, but the more I visit book and writings sites, the more unknown authors I read. I have found many writers who have become cyber friends of mine, “talking” through email and blogs, offering advice and encouragement, and reading each other’s work. Isn’t that great? Ah, the wide world! I’ve collected reviews as well as blurbs from some of these awesomely nice folks, and have reciprocated when asked to do so.

I’m often asked where the ideas come from. My answer? Reading, television shows, comedy acts, billboards, phone books, editorials, eavesdropping (just kidding). You get the idea. I have more ideas than I will ever be able to use! I’m also fortunate to live in a beautiful state where I can travel from the mountains to the sea in one day. There are many gorgeous regions here for inspiration.

My first video trailer (for Just North of Luck) is posted on my website, www.swhitfield.com/

I welcome feedback for this blog, my site, and the trailer.

Special thanks to FreshFiction for having me as a guest blogger. Keep reading! Susan Whitfield