Roberta L. Smith
I have always enjoyed all things paranormal. So when I finally got serious and dedicated myself to writing, this interest showed up big time. A lifelong southern Californian who grew up with TV shows like The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, I am attracted to irony and the macabre. In between Corvette outings with my husband and too much crime TV, I write paranormal mysteries with a splash of romance.
How I Came to Write Paranormal Novels
The following is a guest post I did for the Krazy Book Lady blog (http://www.krazybooklady.blogspot.com/):
Aside from writing, my passion is the paranormal and I don’t have a psychic bone in my body. But then again, maybe we all do to some degree.
With my interest so keen, I took classes to try to develop a sixth-sense skill set. I had limited success. I bent a spoon once. In an effort to elicit an out-of-body experience, I lay on my bed stone-still for three hours. When I started to leave my body I jerked in surprise and stopped it from happening. All that effort wiped out in an instant. Grrrr.
Now I like all this stuff, but if I could pick a paranormal experience to happen to me, I’d like to see—or better yet—meet a ghost. So seventeen years ago my husband and I started visiting haunted hotels. That quest, combined with inspirational treks to historic Old West mining towns like Virginia City, Nevada and Bodie, California, resulted in my first novel, The Secret of Lucianne Dove.
In Lucianne I tried to create a story where readers would feel the interaction with my ghost was possible—where they could believe the experience could happen to them. The story’s intent is to intrigue and haunt, not scare. The tale takes place in Virginia City and most of the sites in the book are real. The ghost is a composite of two nineteenth century, real-life soiled doves (term for prostitutes). My lead character is an average Joe, er Mickey, whose life takes a turn for the paranormal, and by the end of the story he’s glad it did.
Mickey is very dear to my heart and after I finished my first book, I needed to spend more time with him. This resulted in two follow-up novels. Chapel Playhouse finds Mickey in a much more frightening situation, unraveling a mystery, saving a life, and battling a malicious, misguided ghost. It is available now. The Accordo, to be released next year, puts Mickey through the wringer. In fact, he may not be up for any more paranormal adventures after this one. That’s why my fourth novel is a romance that has nothing to do with ghosts. Well, not real ones anyway.
With my interest so keen, I took classes to try to develop a sixth-sense skill set. I had limited success. I bent a spoon once. In an effort to elicit an out-of-body experience, I lay on my bed stone-still for three hours. When I started to leave my body I jerked in surprise and stopped it from happening. All that effort wiped out in an instant. Grrrr.
Now I like all this stuff, but if I could pick a paranormal experience to happen to me, I’d like to see—or better yet—meet a ghost. So seventeen years ago my husband and I started visiting haunted hotels. That quest, combined with inspirational treks to historic Old West mining towns like Virginia City, Nevada and Bodie, California, resulted in my first novel, The Secret of Lucianne Dove.
In Lucianne I tried to create a story where readers would feel the interaction with my ghost was possible—where they could believe the experience could happen to them. The story’s intent is to intrigue and haunt, not scare. The tale takes place in Virginia City and most of the sites in the book are real. The ghost is a composite of two nineteenth century, real-life soiled doves (term for prostitutes). My lead character is an average Joe, er Mickey, whose life takes a turn for the paranormal, and by the end of the story he’s glad it did.
Mickey is very dear to my heart and after I finished my first book, I needed to spend more time with him. This resulted in two follow-up novels. Chapel Playhouse finds Mickey in a much more frightening situation, unraveling a mystery, saving a life, and battling a malicious, misguided ghost. It is available now. The Accordo, to be released next year, puts Mickey through the wringer. In fact, he may not be up for any more paranormal adventures after this one. That’s why my fourth novel is a romance that has nothing to do with ghosts. Well, not real ones anyway.
Making a Character Come Alive
The following is a guest post I did for the Housewife Blues and Chihuahau Stories blog (http://www.jacaburintexas.blogspot.com/):
One of the essential needs of human beings (after the basics like food, water, sex, shelter, love) is to have an answer to the question: What is the meaning of life? And when it becomes pretty clear that the answer is possibly not to be known or is a matter of opinion, many of us become satisfied with having a positive purpose for our own life. In fact, if we don’t have one, some of us may even sink to the level of despair.
In my book The Secret of Lucianne Dove I’ve created two characters driven by the need to give positive meaning to their lives. One is Lucianne, a prostitute from the Old West. I created her after traveling to ghost towns and old mining towns of California, Arizona and Nevada. The “soiled doves” of this era fascinated me. Take away the romantic images Hollywood has given us for some of these women and you’ll find a desperate way of life. It got me thinking, what if there was a woman in this situation who wanted to get out? What if society wouldn’t let her? What if she had to come back from the grave to change the legacy of her life? And what if there was a tormented soul from the present who could help her do it?
Enter my protagonist, Mickey. He’s suffering because he can’t get past something he did wrong decades earlier. This deed so stained him that it has become the meaning of his existence. His life’s purpose narrowed to finding something that will make up for what he did. So what if the soiled dove from the past could help Mickey at the same time he’s helping her?
In creating memorable characters, it’s important to go beyond what they look like, what they do, and what their back story is to what drives them. For me, knowing a character’s essential life-need is what breathes life into the fictional person and makes him or her authentic.
Mickey is real to me and very dear to my heart. So much so that after I finished Lucianne, I needed to spend more time with him. This resulted in two follow-up novels. Chapel Playhouse finds Mickey in a frightening situation, unraveling a mystery, saving a life, and battling a malicious, misguided ghost. The Accordo, to be released next year, puts Mickey through the wringer to such a degree that he may not be up for any more paranormal adventures. That’s why my fourth novel is a change-of-pace romance.
In my book The Secret of Lucianne Dove I’ve created two characters driven by the need to give positive meaning to their lives. One is Lucianne, a prostitute from the Old West. I created her after traveling to ghost towns and old mining towns of California, Arizona and Nevada. The “soiled doves” of this era fascinated me. Take away the romantic images Hollywood has given us for some of these women and you’ll find a desperate way of life. It got me thinking, what if there was a woman in this situation who wanted to get out? What if society wouldn’t let her? What if she had to come back from the grave to change the legacy of her life? And what if there was a tormented soul from the present who could help her do it?
Enter my protagonist, Mickey. He’s suffering because he can’t get past something he did wrong decades earlier. This deed so stained him that it has become the meaning of his existence. His life’s purpose narrowed to finding something that will make up for what he did. So what if the soiled dove from the past could help Mickey at the same time he’s helping her?
In creating memorable characters, it’s important to go beyond what they look like, what they do, and what their back story is to what drives them. For me, knowing a character’s essential life-need is what breathes life into the fictional person and makes him or her authentic.
Mickey is real to me and very dear to my heart. So much so that after I finished Lucianne, I needed to spend more time with him. This resulted in two follow-up novels. Chapel Playhouse finds Mickey in a frightening situation, unraveling a mystery, saving a life, and battling a malicious, misguided ghost. The Accordo, to be released next year, puts Mickey through the wringer to such a degree that he may not be up for any more paranormal adventures. That’s why my fourth novel is a change-of-pace romance.
