October 16, 2013

VICTIMS & VILLAINS IN FICTION ...








                       Victim or Villain: who's your favourite fiction character?   

Ever wondered what happened to that childhood/teenage friend of yours? The one who suddenly wanted nothing more to do with you? Maybe you’ve since made contact at a school reunion or via Facebook or Friends Reunited? Or maybe you simply haven’t dared – scared of the reason? 

My latest crime thriller, Retribution – next in the series featuring the 33 year-old journalist, Alice Myers from Soul Stealer - deals precisely with this dilemma. She can’t understand why her closest friend, Ellie, suddenly broke contact years ago in the New Forest, Hampshire. 
Is Alice to blame? In unravelling the mystery of Ellie’s unexpected death and the subsequent murders together with DI Neil Hunter, Alice unearths secrets and confronts truths she can hardly believe - with enough red herrings for a Spanish fishing fleet!  
                                                       

I’m often asked about my novels. About how much of me and my personal experience goes into them. To give a brief but balanced answer: ‘yes and no’. Well, I did say brief! Yes, because, inevitably, those you meet do influence you. No, because the characters eventually created are composites.

As for authors who sell in the millions, do they portray themselves as they are or would like to be? Take the late Stieg Larsson (The Millennium Trilogy). His protagonist, Blomquist, is described as a good-looking, campaign magazine journalist attractive to women. Larsson was also a campaign magazine journalist. As for his looks, peep at his image on any back cover. Go figure! 

The names for characters have to be handled with real care, too. Take names like Beckham, Blair or Ramsay. Give any one to a quiet, self-effacing character and all the connotations take over. And in your mind’s eye, all you’ll see is Beckham/ Blair/Ramsay as, in psychologists’ jargon, feelings of transference take over. 

Which brings me on to that old chestnut: writer’s block. Here I’m reminded of (Raymond) Chandler’s Law: When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.” Good grief! How did he manage to get away with it?

Finally and back to Retribution, as Alice peels back the layers of deception, she finds nobody is above suspicion. And as for the victim and villain … Well, you really don’t want me to give away the ending, do you?!

For more on the novel (which is selling really well) and photos of the places referred to in it, click here for the August Newsletter. Here you'll find further details of background, inspiration and locations allowing you to "live" the drama – as experienced by Alice and “seen” through her eyes ...




VICTIM OR VILLAIN: WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE FICTION CHARACTER?










As you know, all profits from the sale of my novels, The De Clerambault Code, Soul Stealer and Retribution go to the charity Cudeca - see sidebar opposite (www.cudeca.org)).


See sidebar or click HERE (Amazon UK)HERE (Amazon.com) and HERE (Goodreads) for reviews and further shameless self-promotion! Thanks so much for your support!

Enjoy!

Nora

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post for V ~ Love a good mystery ~ thanks,
carol ( A Creative Harbor)

Anonymous said...

Love this! I know when I write, my characters might have bits and pieces of people I've met, but you're right. They are composites or uniquely themselves. I love both my villains and my heroes.

Esther Joy said...

Very appropriate post with Halloween coming up!

Rocky Mountain Woman said...

i typically tend to identify with the villains...

not sure what that says about me, but it's true!

Lmkazmierczak said...

You have to have both for a thrilling read♫ My letter V: http://lauriekazmierczak.com/vertical-lift/

bichonpawz said...

Hi there Nora and Lola!!! Hope all is well with you two!! We are stopping over to say hello and Happy Fall!! xo Jeanne, Chloe and LadyBug

Anonymous said...

Beautiful fall colors!

Laura said...

Beautiful photos Nora, thanks for sharing the love up-close with I Heart Macro:-)

genie said...

Vilains are not my favorites, but fall is my favorite time of the year...and your fall pictures are beautiful. genie

Laura said...

I'm not sure why your linky photo isn't showing, but yours is not the only one. I also don't know how to remove it... but I don't think it is a deterrent... it adds mystery and most people who follow this meme will click on your link to find out what's behind curtain number one:-)

Our photos said...

You have make beautiful photos!
Greetings, RW & SK

'Tsuki said...

A perfect impression of Autumn !

Liz said...

Lovely pics. Have a fabulous Monday.

Liz (mlc)
Liz (yacb)

Eileen T said...

Lovely autumn colours.

Susan Anderson said...

Sounds like a good plot! I'll have to check it out...

=)

Gemma Wiseman said...

Beautiful range of Autumn colours framing the roadway in the first photo.

betty-NZ said...

I do appreciate your autumn colors! They are so pretty! I'm glad your book is doing so well.

Creations by Marie Antoinette and Edie Marie said...

A most wonderful post into your mind. You are just a little bit spooky this Halloween...LOL
You know me, I love to kid around.
After all life is just a bowl of cherries, but be on your guard.
I read every day and every nite.
I've only read two scary books ...one real life ...Helter Shelter and I forget the other.
That was enough for me. Manson is a real life buggy man.
So I love to read Mary Balogh books. and other historical romance books.
Happy Halloween XXOO,
Marie Antoinette

Annesphamily said...

Your shares are always so much fun and always a good learning lesson. Thank you. I am catching up! It is good to visit.

Jenny said...

You can't have a victim with out a villain...

I definitely prefer the victory to be on the good side.

Thanks for linking to the letter "V"!

A+