Blog Chain: Mind Your Genre Set

Blog Chain day! I'm doing this one quick since I'm running on fumes from being up until 2am working and everyone is more interested in the World News at the moment. Margie asks this round's question:

"How do you get in the mindset of your genre? Do you research people or facts? Do you just reach into the recesses of your mind for events that would make a good story? Something else?”

My genre is suspense/thriller, so it's not like I'm going to be sitting in the park at... um... 2 in the morning waiting for a murder or something else suspenseful to happen. I read a lot of Stephen King and Poe stories, so it's easy to get within the general mindset of my genre. Watching bad horror b-movies is also another way.

I occasionally research people or facts when I'm searching for something really specific. For my novel, The Stone Man, I did a little research concerning a fort that I knew of that my mother would drive us past during my childhood to get to the local mall. Most of the story's setting takes place in a fort. And I also researched about sculptor's tools, since this is my main character's hobby/career dream.

Otherwise, as to the events of the novel, I'll lay in bed, delving into the recesses of the mind, and story events will just pop in there. Sometimes, the story's theme may come from a past childhood event. But usually it's all the brain cells' tireless efforts in trying to scare the bejeepers out of me with some wild crazy antics that makes me think I've gone mental.

That's about it. Go visit Sandra who posted something wonderful about gargoyles. And make sure to visit Eric's place tomorrow with his answer. Come back on Friday for Christine Fonseca's blog book tour to promote her nonfiction novel: 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids where she talks about childhood advice. There will be cool book swag prizes if you leave comments, and I also might throw in an Amazon Gift certificate too.