When I first began the task of developing my new novel, ZION'S WEB, I really had no clue what kind of book I intended to writeâ€"other than I wanted my novel to be a thriller. Despite involving Mormons in the novel, I really wasn't attempting to write LDS fiction, nor do I think I succeeded in accomplished thisâ€"at least not in the traditional view of things. But what I did write, in my view, is absolutely uniqueâ€"and, more importantly, it's mine.
This of course goes for the hero in my novel, Zachariah (Zack) Burton, an ex-FBI-Agent-turned-private-investigator who lives on a 50-foot sport fisher in San Pedro, California. In figuring out exactly how I wanted to develop Zack, it may be useful to inspect the roots of detective fiction which is where I got my cue. In delving into private detectives, I determined that many of these personalitiesâ€"at least those of the male variety set in the twentieth century and laterâ€"seemed to contain at least a passing similarity to the hard boiled detectives made by the likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. These men were all rough hewn, no-nonsense types of individuals, with a somewhat cynical view of the world.
My lead character Zack fits this profile in a number of ways due to some the events that have occurred in his life. Zack recently lost his wife to cancer, for example, an event that caused him to begin drinking excessively. This behavior finally led him to lose nearly everything he had in life, including his job with the FBI. The one thing he was able to hang onto was the Kajiki, his sport fisher berthed in a marina in San Pedro. True to his hard-boiled image, Zack begins the story as a loner and a near-total recluse but through the progression of the book matures as a person until by the end he is significantly more approachable and sympathetic.
What makes Zack unique , however, is the Mormon element. Due to the nature of the case he is entangled withâ€"the rescue of a female escapee from a polygamist compound run by self-proclaimed fundamentalist Mormonsâ€"I felt it was crucial to distinguish these people from the mainstream Mormons based out of Salt Lake who gave up the practice of polygamy over a hundred years ago and excommunicate any of their members who continue pursuing it. For similar reasons, I also believed it was important to include some details about mainstream Mormonism in my story.
The lady Zack was married to for instance was a Mormon, even though he isn't. His ex-brother-in-law is also a Mormon and provides the principal vehicle by which assorted historic elements about Mormonism are presented, though these are never permitted to interrupt the primary story line.
The take-away from all this is to assert that your lead character in detective fiction should be centered on something you identify with personally, which is how you will make him or her your own. If I had copied Dashiell Hammett's character, or Chandlers, or any one of a half dozen others, my character would not have been unique, which would have influenced my book and made it somewhat unremarkable . And if your story is not unique, it has little chance of developing a strong audience or setting you apart you as a writer.
.
This of course goes for the hero in my novel, Zachariah (Zack) Burton, an ex-FBI-Agent-turned-private-investigator who lives on a 50-foot sport fisher in San Pedro, California. In figuring out exactly how I wanted to develop Zack, it may be useful to inspect the roots of detective fiction which is where I got my cue. In delving into private detectives, I determined that many of these personalitiesâ€"at least those of the male variety set in the twentieth century and laterâ€"seemed to contain at least a passing similarity to the hard boiled detectives made by the likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. These men were all rough hewn, no-nonsense types of individuals, with a somewhat cynical view of the world.
My lead character Zack fits this profile in a number of ways due to some the events that have occurred in his life. Zack recently lost his wife to cancer, for example, an event that caused him to begin drinking excessively. This behavior finally led him to lose nearly everything he had in life, including his job with the FBI. The one thing he was able to hang onto was the Kajiki, his sport fisher berthed in a marina in San Pedro. True to his hard-boiled image, Zack begins the story as a loner and a near-total recluse but through the progression of the book matures as a person until by the end he is significantly more approachable and sympathetic.
What makes Zack unique , however, is the Mormon element. Due to the nature of the case he is entangled withâ€"the rescue of a female escapee from a polygamist compound run by self-proclaimed fundamentalist Mormonsâ€"I felt it was crucial to distinguish these people from the mainstream Mormons based out of Salt Lake who gave up the practice of polygamy over a hundred years ago and excommunicate any of their members who continue pursuing it. For similar reasons, I also believed it was important to include some details about mainstream Mormonism in my story.
The lady Zack was married to for instance was a Mormon, even though he isn't. His ex-brother-in-law is also a Mormon and provides the principal vehicle by which assorted historic elements about Mormonism are presented, though these are never permitted to interrupt the primary story line.
The take-away from all this is to assert that your lead character in detective fiction should be centered on something you identify with personally, which is how you will make him or her your own. If I had copied Dashiell Hammett's character, or Chandlers, or any one of a half dozen others, my character would not have been unique, which would have influenced my book and made it somewhat unremarkable . And if your story is not unique, it has little chance of developing a strong audience or setting you apart you as a writer.
.
About the Author:
Michael Snow is the author of ZION'S WEB, the first in the Zachariah Burton detective series. As well as writing stories, Michael maintains a blogsite which incorporates some handy and highly fascinating blogs including information about creating a fictional detective.
No comments:
Post a Comment