Candice Hughes

After completing “The Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins, I spent some time thinking about the techniques Collins used to create this early thriller/suspense story. CAUTION: May contain spoilers.

First, it was helpful that the novel was serialized. This likely pushed Collins to provide a cliffhanger ending for each installation. When read as a complete novel, the reader still enjoys the roller coaster ride where the hero and heroines are pushed into a tighter and tighter box by one disaster after another. With each set back, the villains gain until the hero and heroines have lost nearly everything and absolute success seems assured for the villains.

While the pace is slower than is currently in vogue and some circumstances could not occur with today’s technology, the plot twits and turns still hold the reader enthralled, pushing on and on to see how the “good guys” could possibly get out of their dilemma. Collins gives the hero and heroines no rest, driving them in one case to the brink of insanity. His characters are well drawn and realistic. His portrayal of society in the 1800′s and of the physical environment seems authentic and sufficient for the reader to feel settled in that time period.

One unusual aspect is Collin’s use of numerous narrators. This technique allows him to give the readers knowledge of the unfolding plot even when none of the heroines nor the hero are present. The alternative would be an omniscient narrator. I believe the unusual choice gives the story more immediacy. In Collin’s hands, these narrator switches are not distracting.

Collins is also adept at understanding the psychology of his characters. This is particularly evident in the “villains” self-justification for their misdeeds.

The only potential flaws are a few situations that one could argue are a bit too coincidental. However, these never stretch the boundaries to the point where the situation would be judged absurd. They are more than balanced out by the novels relentless destruction of the hero and heroines, which progresses from the beginning to nearly the end of the novel.

Bookmarked: City of Light by Lauren Belfer

The swine flu epidemic, grounded in the mixing of bird, human and pig DNA, started me thinking about how sci fi or medical thriller type books are often closer to reality than we might like to believe. I primarily stick with near future or contemporary medical thrillers. I base the likelihood of events in the books on what I know from my training as a scientist and additional research I do.

Sometimes that future is even nearer than it seems. The truth is that science is in many ways an art rather than being fully quantitative. As a scientist, I deal in probabilities. However, nature often tosses a rock in the pond upsetting the carefully organized numbers.

Fundamentally, that’s what’s so frightening about medical thrillers and what’s so thrilling about science. We are forced to look nature in the eye and admit how little we know.

Michael Crichton captured that line between science and nature. It’s the heart of what I try to capture in my books. Any time I lose sight of it, I can look back to Jurassic Park.

Bookmarked: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers

Yesterday while trolling about on the Internet for information for novel 2, I came across a fascinating web site on DNA analysis for crime investigation. If you’re interested in this topic, visit www.dna.gov. This site offers a broad overview of what can and can’t be done with DNA evidence. It’s worth a look!

To hone my thrillers and make them even more thrilling, I’ve been listening to the 2008 Thrillerfest lectures I couldn’t attend in person. Those CDs they offer for sale are fantastic because short of cloning oneself, you just can’t attend every lecture you want to with so many excellent ones to choose from.

I found the best way to listen to these CDs is while driving around running errands. I’ve heard a couple of lectures by Dr. D. P. Lyle where he deconstructs The Terminator and makes it easy to see why it keeps audiences on the edge of their seats. Over the summer I had also read Dr. Lyle’s book, Forensics: A Guide for Writers. For anyone writing thrillers, especially medical thrillers, I recommend learning from Dr. Lyle. His lectures and book are all entertaining and easy to understand. Pondering the Terminator also helps put the current economic situation in perspective.

Happy Reading!

Working on Novel 2, I found writing slowing as I struggled with questions I didn’t have answers for. What to do with unanswered questions? My answer for almost everything- get a book! I found Police Procedure & Investigation by Lee Lofland at my local Barnes and Noble bookstore.

Lofland has written a fantastic book! Not only does he provide the basics but he adds key details and makes the whole thing readable, even enjoyable, by adding the sights, sounds and smells.  If you’re squeemish, you may not want to read this book. There are many graphic details. Of course, anyone who can’t cope with a dead body or two probably shouldn’t be trying to write thrillers or murder mysteries. Luckily, my time in medical school as well as an internship with a pathologist had already prepared me for the autopsy room chapter, blood splatter analysis and other tidbits Lofland covers.

The book also reaffirmed the wisdom of my choice in being a writer sitting in a nice quite room writing about cops. So, I’ll just pour another cup of tea and read about Lofland pulling a bullet-hole ridden target with “Lofland” printed above the head out of a thug’s car trunk. And I’ll listen to the birds chirp and bang on the keys some more…

As the summer draws to a close, so to my term as Treasurer for my RWA Chapter reaches the end. I have been priviliged to work with some wonderful women on the Board. All of them are passionate about writing and it’s good to be around people who inspire me to keep moving forward with my work. It will be hard in some ways to step down but I hope to gain more writing time. It’s a hard battle to carve out minutes here and there but it’s necessary to keep moving Novel 2 forward. On the bright side, I plan to continue being involved in the chapter, to keep being inspired and to watch the group grow!