When you write a murder mystery, the first thing you need to know is who your killer is. What motivates him/her? Where is the crime, who was the victim and why was he murder and when was he murdered and how. There is another what to be answered in THE HANGMAN, what triggered the killer. I knew what the who, what, where, and the why of the crime, but it took a while for me to visualize my killer and what set him on the road to murder. Now, I am creating a list of suspects who may have committed the crime.
When you create a character, you have to know everything about that person, their DOB, where they were born, their parents, their childhood, their likes, dislikes, what motivates them and a vital bit of information, what would trigger them to kill. We all have a survival mode, but what is that all important factor in a character that makes them snap and commit a murder. It took me awhile to figure that one out, but I did. So I’m busy working on the suspect list and my killer’s profile. All this take time.
I have set up individual files on all my regular characters in the Jonas Black series. As each person grows and I develop their personality more, that information will be added to their file as a reference point. That way I keep track of what each one will or will not do. It’s a process, but so worth the effort.
I’m still doing some additional research for THE HANGMAN. I don’t believe you can ever do enough research to make your story accurate. I do take liberties with some facts and procedures, but only to enhance my storyline. I stick as close to the facts as possible, but do tweak some things if necessary.
The book covers for THE HANGMAN, THE SNATCHER, THE JUDGE, and THE GARDNER have all been designed. As I’m sure you all have guessed, my book titles are named for my killers and the book covers correspond to that theme. My killers are distinctive, and I hope the covers convey that fact.
Don’t forget to give THE STONE KILLER a read as it is the first book of the series. I found an old file with about eight to ten more story ideas set in Colorado Springs that will fit into the series nicely. So Jonas and his team will continue on after the initial five books.
Well, supposedly we were to have possible snow today. That isn’t going to happen. In fact, this week the prediction is for a lot of 50’s and even a couple of 60’s by next weekend. This weather is far from a normal winter. Thirties and forties is normal, not twenty degrees above normal. If it’s this warm now, what can we expect for summer?
Everyone have a great day and stay safe.
Dreamah
DREAMAH H. LOCKWOOD |AUTHOR 