I’m really a very nice person, but my thoughts aren’t always so pleasant. I tend to think of the most macabre thing that can happen in any given situation. When I hear a news story, my imagination goes wild. Even the most benign story has dark overtones.
People have always been fascinated and repelled by evil. I think it’s hard-wired into us from the dawn of time. Look at Eve. She knew damn well she shouldn’t touch the apple, let alone take a bite from it. The lure of the serpent was powerful. In The Hunt my heroine thinks about the beauty masking evil, that the serpent must have not been repulsive because otherwise Eve would have been running, screaming, back to Adam.
When bad things happen, we ask ourselves why. Why why why? How could someone be so cruel? How could he rape, kill, torture someone? How could anyone get pleasure out of inflicting pain until death?
I think one reason I get deep into my villain’s head is to try to find a reason for the evil act. No reason justifies it, but as a human being I care about why bad things happen. What makes someone kidnap, rape, and hunt down women?
The common “theory” is that it’s a combination of environment and personality or psychosis that sets someone on a criminal path. Overwhelming, serial killers were abused physically, emotionally and sexually as children. Does that make me feel sorry for them? Hell no. The hero in The Hunt makes a comment that while he can feel sorry for the child the killer had been, he has no such compassion for him as an adult.
But not all abused children turn into killers; not all killers come from abusive backgrounds. The latter are particularly scary. Those are the killers psychiatrists want to understand. How can a normal, well-manner, middle class child raised by two loving parents grow up to be a vicious murderer?
Here at Murder She Writes, we’ll be doing little featurettes on things that interest us that relate to suspense writing; expect more about serial killers from this Sacramento soccer mom.
Allison Brennan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly three dozen romantic thrillers and mysteries, including the Lucy Kincaid series and the Max Revere series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.
Scary isn’t it? We really don’t know what makes a killer. We have theories, we can track patterns, but in the end, we really don’t know. That’s what makes murder such fascinating subject for writers. We keep trying to make some kind of sense of it.
Nice post Allison!
Making sense of chaos . . . because that’s pretty much what getting into a killer’s mind is.
You’re right, ladies, sense out of chaos…. and while we’re out here trying to do just that, the weirdos are out there looking for new and improved methods of weirdness to keep us off track. erkkk…
My editor says I have a macabre imagination . . . can’t wait to read your books, Deb.
I’m ordering a couple of deb and jen’s books when i get back into town, and of course yours A.
The inner workings of a psycho mind fascinate me, too, Allison. I’m always endlessly fascinated by serial killers. What makes them tick?
So far, I’m a little TOO good at imagining it. Please don’t call the FBI…
You know, Natalie, I was reading an article somewhere that said killing starts with a vivid fantasy life . . . and psychopaths turn the fantasy into reality. That’s why they escalate and why they can’t stop. Once the fantasy is real, it losing the “fantastical” feeling, so they need to kill more often, or more painfully, or add layers to their process.
I’m not going to call the feds on you, I promise. My imagination is a little too active, too . . .
I find the concept of trying to figure out why a “normal” someone becomes a killer interesting. In the same respect I find it interesting as to how and why an author constructs and commits the crimes they do.
As readers we all think that an author has lived what they have written. While I know that isn’t all true, I know that many writers feed off their own personal experiences. Natalie is an example I can use and know this is true. As writers we are coached to write what we know. But I know you are all not mass murders. So I have to question, which comes first – the context or the crime?
This fascinates me. Did you write a great character and then just fall into the crime? Did you know what your ending was and constructed the crime to best get you to your ending? Did the crime just happen, and you went along for the ride? These questions drive me crazy.
Allison, reading your post makes me grateful my books revolve around a touch of magic and hope instead of serial killers. As a writer, I LIVE with these characters. Instead of wondering how a serial killer thinks, I get to wonder how a ghost thinks. 😀
And Karin’s thoughts must be filled with SEX, SEX, SEX. 😆
Cele, you have some great questions!
My books usually come together with a couple different thoughts. Ok, for THE HUNT, I had two distinct story ideas. The first was, what if a killer kidnaps women, tortures them, and then releases them . . . giving them hope that they can escape (they never saw his face) . . . and then hunts them down like animals? This isn’t original, and sadly it’s the basic MO of a real life killer in Alaska named Baker (who was caught). But I gave this killer a twist . . . I don’t want to give it away, though know that my killer is not based on this guy in Alaska; I’d come up with the story idea and in my research learned about Baker.
I also had a story idea about a woman who survived a rape. Then it sort of evolved into, what if someone actually escaped from a serial killer . . . what kind of person would she be? What would she do with her life? How would she deal with what happened to her?
Then WHAM! I had my story . . . a college student escapes from the Bozeman Butcher, a man who hunts women in the Montana wilderness.
I didn’t know the ending, I didn’t really know anything about the characters or who the hero was or why the killer killed. That all came about as I wrote the book. The prologue and first chapter are on my website.
I also have how I came up with my stories in my author Q&A . . . I’ll post them here someday.
Edie . . . I would think about how ghosts think, too. But my ghost would probably be a serial killer . . . or the victim.
Thank you so much for having such an extensive Q&A. I now salivate at
the thought of reading your books. Wow, hook, line, and sinker.
I told everyone that I don’t have an end in sight. I love to write, but
having no clue of where you are going is a real downer. So I chose to
pursue other sides of the book development process that gives me much
pleasure and self accomplishment. It is nice to know that you too found a
problem in finding the end.
I can’t wait to read your books. And nice earrings, did you get them at
Past Times? They are really nice.
I absolutely LOVE those earrings. When I bought them, I knew I was going to wear them in my author photos . . . how weird is that?
I got them from a woman who specializes in old jewelry . . . gosh, there’s a term for it (not antique), but I can’t think of it. She has all this old costume jewelry — but the good costume stuff, all from the 20s-50s. Well, she had been to Ireland and bought a few things and those earrings were one of them. One lunch hour while I was still working in the State Capitol, my secretary hosted a jewelry show and while I liked all the stuff (though some was a little too “much” for my taste), those earrings were off to the side with some other new jewelry. They called to me. I had to have them. They were a little pricey, but I deserved them (as Karin would tell you).
So, long story short, they’re from Ireland, but I didn’t get to go there to buy them . . . someday.