Developing A Character With an Assist from Diane Fanning

I've blogged several times about the complex character that I'm developing for Footprints in the Sand and I got a great idea -

Last year I read a book by Diane Fanning - it was about the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett. You probably remember the young pregnant woman who was killed and the murderer literally her baby from her body and kidnapped the child. That's not what I have planned for my book - but the mentality of the kidnapper is great research for my book.

So, I contacted Diane to see if we could toss around some thoughts. Who better to ask than someone who researched this woman and the condition that led her to commit these horrible crimes? We exchanged some emails and she gave me some great input -- thank you very much Diane.

About 3 years ago I met Dianne Fanning when I moderated a true crime panel at the Virginia Festival of the Book and she was on the panel. I've always enjoyed true crime books and if you enjoy true crime - you HAVE to give her books a read.

These are some of her true crime books and you can find reviews for a number of these on my review blog - I have read just about every one.

2007 - Out There: The In-Depth Story of the Astronaut Love Triangle Case that Shocked America

2007 - Under the Knife: A Beautiful Woman, a Deranged Doctor, and a Shocking Murder

2006 - Baby Be Mine : The Shocking True Story of a Woman Who Murdered a Pregnant Mother to Steal Her Child

2006 - Gone Forever : A True Story of Marriage, Betrayal, and Murder

2005 - Written in Blood

2004 - Into the Water

2003 - Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells

The Pastor's Wife: The True Story of a Minister and the Shocking Death that Divided a Family

Novels by Diane Fanning
Punish the Deed (Lucinda Pierce)
The Trophy Exchange: A Lucinda Pierce Mystery (Lucinda Pierce)
Bite the Moon (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star Mystery Series)
The Windwalkers

You should take a look :)

Nikki Leigh


Diane Fanning
Author of PUNISH THE DEED, the second Lucinda Pierce novel from Severn House
www.dianefanning.com
www.myspace.com/dianefanning
www.womenincrimeink.blogspot.com

Working on Book Promo 201 Galleys - Getting Back to Footprints in the Sand

I haven't had a chance to work on Footprints in the Sand lately, but I'm hoping to get a chance to work on it some this weekend. Last weekend I was at the Virginia Festival of the Book and the weekend before that -- we were working on the virtual tour for Maureen G Mulvaney's Amazon campaign for her new best seller -- The Women's Millionaire Club. Several weeks before that - I was working on other projects - but Footprints needs my attention and I really want to do some story brainstorming.

So, I called a local psychologist to see if we can talk about one of the characters. I work hard to maintain authenticity in characters, setting etc so I need to talk with a professional about some ideas I have for this character. Hopefully she can point me in the right direction. More updates soon -- I hope. I'll also let you know when Book Promo 201: Harness the Power of the Internet with Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing is available :)

Nikki

Additional Character and the Book Dedication

I'm not revealing any huge secrets, but I planned to base a character in Footprints in the Sand on someone who has always been very important to me, but I needed someone's approval to do this. I got that approval a few days ago - so JD will be in the book. He's going to be a great friend to Nathan (the hero) and I think he will play an important part in helping Nathan solve the mystery of the kidnapping. The character will be his own "person", but there will be parts of his personality and behavior that will be familiar to people who knew the person he is based on.

I've also decided who to dedicate the book to, but now I will have to craft a great written dedication. Thankfully, I have all kind of time to figure that out :)

I also found some awesome resources and tips for parents to help them prevent kidnappings - and I'm planning to include those in the back of the book along with internet links for much more information.

Several other projects are taking up my writing time right now, but ideas for this book are simmering :) I've also got post it notes with ideas all over the covers of a couple of notebooks.

I read How to Write a Damn Good Mystery and all kinds of interesting story ideas cme to me while I was reading, so I jotted the notes down and stuck them to the front of the book. It looks really funny, but there is only one idea that I might not use :)

Time to get back to work for a client - hoping to share more soon :)

Nikki Leigh

Kidnapping Information Research

In between working, I've been on a search for kidnapping investigation information. At an author event in October I met a local author who is retired from the FBI, so I emailed him and he sent me a great list of the things that need to be done when a kidnapping is reported. I printed that out and will definitely use it while I'm plotting the story.

Tonight I got an idea about a keyword combination for Google and it got me into a section of the www.missingkids.org website that I hadn't found before. There is a wealth of info on their site and especially if you click on the "resource" links. I found this PDF which is a training manual for police officers which should be helpful and they have a couple of checklists. This is the link -
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/ResourceServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=643 and click on Missing and Abducted Children (English)

I also located some tips for parents etc that I'll include in a special section in the back of the book. In any of my mysteries, I want to find a way to share information I find that can be helpful to readers. This should be some great information for parents and others :) I work hard to have authenticity in my novels, but this will go a step beyond what my readers are used to.

I'm also reading "How to Write a Damn Good Mystery" and making all kinds of notes. You should see the front of the book, I keep adding post it notes with story ideas that pop into my head while I'm reading :)

Nikki Leigh

Footprints in the Sand - Villain is Taking Shape

With Footprints in the Sand, the main characters are fleshed out from Lilah and the Locket - so I need to focus on the area of the Outer Banks where most of the action will take place. I also wanted to get my head around the villain and figuring out the "who", "what", "when", "why" and "how" of the crime.

I like this clipart - so I used it, but I'm not ready to reveal whether the villain is a man or a woman. Actually, you won't know that answer until you read the book :)

I got all that under control yesterday and even determined where the crime will take place along the Outer Banks. I had about 200 miles of coast to work with - but I wanted to use a section where I had details about the storm - so it will be near Whalebone Junction.


This is an aerial shot of the Outer Banks. That little narrow white strip on the picture in the land known as the Outer Banks. the green/blue to the right is the Atlantic Ocean and the green/brown area to the left of that strip is Pamlico Sound -- lots of water and so, you may understand why I'll write the story around a time when one of the worst storms of the century hit the area.

One of my goals is to have the reader feel that they were in the storm on Ash Wednesday 1962. This nor'easter hit the east coast and stalled for over 2 days. That time of the year is the spring solstice, so the tide is higher than normal, there was a new mooon - so the tide was even higher than normal --- add to that, three weather events that created a storm that sat on the coast for over 2 days and 5 tides cycles and you have high winds and a lot of water. Now, add to that a horrible crime the evening before this unexpected storm hits to coast - and I hope to reel you into this story.

Fan favorites, Kristie, Nathan and Lilah will be back. i got a number of comments from readers that they wanted to see Kristie and Nathan get together. In Footprints in the Sand, Nathan and Kristie are married and expecting their first child.

More soon...

Nikki Leigh