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 t
he 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)).
Enjoy!
Nora
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