Chasing Evil, Finding Themes

by Leslie Tentler

Thanks so much for having me back again at Working Stiffs! It’s been a whirlwind month so far. I’ve been busy doing promotional activities for MIDNIGHT FEAR, the second book in the Chasing Evil trilogy that was released on August 1.

MIDNIGHT FEAR introduces Reid Novak, a special agent working for the FBI’s fictional Violent Crimes Unit. There’s also Caitlyn Cahill, a former D.C. socialite who played a prominent role in bringing her serial killer brother to justice two years earlier. An act that is now coming back to haunt her.

All three books in the Chasing Evil trilogy are based on a deliberate, common theme: federal agents handling serial murder investigations. But as I wrote each novel (all three are now completed; the final one will be released in February), I began to recognize a second, underlying trend and one that I hadn’t planned intentionally: The main character in each book comes from a legacy of law enforcement.

To that point:

• In my debut novel, MIDNIGHT CALLER, Special Agent Trevor Rivette’s father is a disgraced, embittered former New Orleans cop. Trevor himself went into law enforcement due to the powerlessness he felt growing up in his father’s abusive household, and his desire to right his dad’s many wrongs.
• In my current book, MIDNIGHT FEAR, Reid Novak’s father is a retired D.C. vice detective, and his grandfather was a beat cop. Reid’s father, however, is everything that Trevor’s father was not. Kind and gentle, he continues to play a big role in his son’s life.
• And in EDGE OF MIDNIGHT, the trilogy’s final (and still to be released) book, Special Agent Eric Macfarlane has ties that are high up within the federal government: His father is an associate attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice. Driven and ambitious, Eric’s father sets the bar high for his only son.

While the father-son dynamic in each story is different, it clearly shapes who the main character in each book has become. When I recognized the similar patterns within these stories, it also got me to thinking about how each of us is shaped by our own parents, as well – their personalities, their interests and dreams for us, as well as their disappointments and regrets.

I give credit for my becoming a writer to my mother, a schoolteacher who was a master raconteur as well as an avid reader. She taught me the escape of a good book from an early age. Especially in the summer, we’d take regular trips to the small bookstore around the corner, and to the public library, then return home with our arms piled high with adventures to be read. I still can’t diagram a sentence to save my life, but I got my ability to write from reading. It’s where I learned how to build a story arc, establish pace and instinctively know if a sentence or paragraph “reads right.” I don’t think my mother ever intended for me to become a writer, however. She just wanted me to share her love of books.

My mother especially loved those big, sweeping historical romances – another interest she passed along to me. In fact, many years ago, my first attempt at writing was an historical romance, set on a Louisiana plantation. But I wasn’t ready then, my writing hadn’t matured enough (nor had my attention span), and I think I made it about five chapters in before ditching the entire effort.

But I kept my desire to write.

At some point, my interests moved away from historical romance and onto contemporary romantic thrillers. I love the elements of danger in those kinds of stories, and the heightened passions that come along with that. While no one really wants that kind of crime or risk in his or her real life, I’d think, it’s exciting to see it play out from the safety of a book.

As a new writer, I feel like I’ve learned so much during the time spent writing the Chasing Evil trilogy. Everything from critical aspects of homicide investigations to the underworld vampire culture in New Orleans. And I also know that I still have so much more to experience and learn.

Enjoy what’s left of summer and read a good book by the water somewhere!

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Novelist Leslie Tentler worked in public relations as a writer and editor for nearly two decades before deciding to pursue her love of writing fiction. Her first manuscript won multiple Romance Writers of America chapter contest awards, including the prestigious Maggie Award of Excellence.

Leslie is a native of Kingsport, Tennessee. Growing up, she was an avid reader, first of Nancy Drew novels and then surreptitiously devouring her mother’s historical romances at probably too young an age. As she got older, her reading interests moved to dark, contemporary romantic thrillers, which she writes today.

Baggage Claim? I’ll Take It!

First off, many thanks to Bente Gallagher/Jennie Bentley for inviting me here on the eve of the release of my debut novel!

In querying Midnight Caller, I recall a particular agent rejection in which I was told that my characters had too much “baggage,” particularly my lead male character, an FBI agent who is heading up a serial murder investigation while also being forced to confront some pretty devastating secrets from his past. (Clearly, based on that comment I knew this wouldn’t have been the right agent for me. I’m all about the baggage.)

In fact, from a writing perspective, baggage is where I begin to build my character. What’s made that person who he or she is today? Have they suffered some physical or emotional trauma? Is it something recent and fresh, or something they’ve held onto (or repressed) for most of their lives?

Even more, have they managed to push their way through it (and become a stronger, tougher person in the process), or have they become mired in it and lost their way?

Answering such questions is almost always how I begin to develop what I hope will be a multi-faceted and compelling character. In real life, few of us are without some form of baggage. The luckier among us may be simply strolling around with the straps of overnight bags over our shoulders. The rest of us, however, have these giant suitcases on wheels, packed so tightly we have to sit on it to zip it closed. But that baggage is what makes us who we are and especially in fiction, more nuanced and interesting.

Once I know my characters’ baggage, the rest of the story spins off from there.

In writing, we have the ability to use that dreamed-up baggage for dramatic effect, to build empathy and to reveal our characters’ motivations in doing what they do. In Midnight Caller, members of the same family who all experienced a common tragedy have dealt with it in very different ways. Uncovering exactly what happened – and how it affected each of them – became as big a part of the story as the serial murder investigation itself.

As a reader and television viewer (and I admit, I think much of television is better than a lot of movies today), my favorite and most memorable characters are those who have their fair share of baggage. Consider the following:

• The X-Files’ Fox Mulder, who has spent his life chasing UFOs after the childhood abduction/disappearance of his younger sister. Fox is witty and a genius, but also a little mentally unraveled from the trauma of his missing sister and his relentless quest for the truth.

• Detective Archie Sheridan of Chelsea Cain’s marvelous Heartsick. Abducted, tortured and nearly killed by a serial killer, Archie’s dysfunctional relationship with his captor even after she is imprisoned, and his mental state following his trauma, is the foundation of this book. (BTW, if you haven’t read Heartsick, you should.)

• Dexter Morgan, the blood splatter analyst and serial killer with a mission to kill only other killers, who experienced the profound trauma of witnessing his mother’s murder as a small child.

These are the characters that come to mind for me when I think of what makes “good” emotional baggage in fiction. You may notice that all of them are in law enforcement, and that’s a topic for another blog, sometime.

I often read about writers who get to know their characters by developing profile sheets that cover everything from what they like to eat for breakfast to their first crush and pet peeves. If starting there works for you, then great! You’ll have a more detailed and better thought-out character for it. I’m usually too impatient (and on too much of a deadline) for that kind of thing. For me, figuring out the defining moments in a character’s life – be it something recent or from a long time ago – is my first and most direct step in development.

What emotionally driven characters have stayed with you and why?

Working Stiffs, thanks for having me!

Leslie Tentler

Midnight Caller/February 2011

MIRA Books
http://www.leslietentler.com/