{BOOK CLUB} ByAndria Saxelby Come a Little Closer by Rachel Abbott
Thismonth I caught upwith Internationalbest selling author RachelAbbott.Her latest novel is masterfulmodernday crime: meticulousdetail, intelligent grippingplot andDCITomDouglas on the case!
Can you give abriefoverviewof your latestbook? Come a LittleCloser is the story of three youngwomen, allwith one thing in common. They aremissing, all trapped in the same place from which there seems no escape.But each of themhas a very different reason for being there.
AndwhenTomDouglas is sent to investigate abody, foundin a frozen andremote location, there are somanyquestions.Howdidshe get there?Howdidshedie?And whowilldie next? Howdo you dealwith continuity issueswhenwriting a series of books whilst ensuring newreaders can engage out of sequence? I ama stickler for organisation. I
have amaster spreadsheet,which contains all themajor events in Tom’s life – fromhis birth (and that of his brother, his daughter and his ex-wife) and every event that occurs in one of my novels. I also have a very clear idea ofmy characters – particularly Tom. I feel I knowhiminside out, and I knowwhat he likes to eat, drink, his preferredmusic – the list goes on.
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have photographs of howI imagine themto look, and I start to think aboutwhat they eat, drink,wear for work – all the little details thatmakes themreal tome. And that’swhen the fun starts,
because as I continue towrite, I hear my characters shouting inmy ears, “No! Iwould never do that!” and as I write, they begin to take over and drive the story towards a conclusion – sometimes one that I had never dreamt ofwhen I startedwriting the story.
RachelAbbott The key is understanding a series
character’s past andwhat has shaped them.After that, as long as I maintain a rigorous record of the tiny details, it becomes easy to check back and be sure that I haven’t suddenly aged his daughter by five years!
Charactersorplot:whatdrives your storydevelopmentprocess most? That is such an interesting question. I startwith the plot – I need to know what the overall story is.But once I have the premise inmy head, I start to buildmy character profiles.What must this person be like, for this to have happened to them?What decisions have they taken that have led themtowhere they are?And then gradually I build themup – not just inmymind, but on paper too. I
What literary characterdoyou most relate to? I do enjoy theway that the character ofClarice Starling is portrayed in the films of ThomasHarris’s book The Silence of the Lambs. I’d like to think that I could have been that young cadet -maybewithout all the running through thewoods and climbing things – learning howto profile serial killers and getting her teeth into such a high-profile case right out of the blocks. To succeed she keeps her considerable eye for detail on the ball and doesn’t let anything stand in her way.And quite apart fromanything else, she gets to spend time looking into the dark soul ofHannibal Lecter – nowthat’s something I can really relate to!
Howhas socialmedia shapedor hinderedtheway you reach your fanbase? Socialmedia is,without a doubt, a
