An extract from
'Telling Lies for a Living'
'...the art of pretence, fabrication and telling lies is part of my
stock-in-trade. To begin with, I must strive to believe my own
lies. It’s important that my characters become so convincing - so
‘real’ to me - they take on a life of their own. How else can I
expect the reader to care about them? I need to ‘hear’ my
characters speaking to me, each with their own distinctive voice.
In my completed novel the reader should be able to tell which of
them is ‘on stage’ from dialogue alone.
The same principles come into play when creating backgrounds and
settings. Some writers use actual places they know or have visited,
especially for contemporary novels. I do this to some extent, but
as there’s often a strong fantasy element in my books I also make a
lot of things up. Of course that is true of all novelists. A writer
of thrillers doesn’t need to murder anyone or commit a crime. A
writer of historical fiction can take as much or as little licence
with the facts as they wish. Like me, they are not above twisting
facts, features and places to add drama.... '
Sue's guest post 'Telling Lies or a Living' was
first published by @Dough_nut81
on her Blog, Dash Fan Book Reviews, on 25th May
2018. Click
here
to read the full
feature.
