Blog Tour- Stench - 10/5/18
Blog Tour
Stench
by AB Morgan
Today on my blog I have the pleasure of sharing with you......
Stench!
I would like to thank Sarah Hardy from Bloodhound Books and AB Morgan for inviting me on the blog tour.
☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠
Book Information
Rory Norton didn’t always make his living as a motorbike instructor and he went to great lengths to leave his past life behind, to start again.
He thought he had succeeded, until the body of a missing woman is discovered under the floor of his cottage. Only then do the guilt and shame of his wife’s mysterious, untimely death and the accusations about his connection to the missing woman combine to break him.
The question is not how the missing woman died but why, and who is responsible?
Sometimes the truth stinks.
☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠
Guest Post
Several degrees left of the usual:
Where do ideas for crime novels come from if the authors are not generally classed as criminals? - Not in the conventional sense of the word anyway.
Those of us who write in this genre come from a variety of backgrounds and it is often our professions that contribute to the stories we write. When our ideas take us away from what is not in our sphere of knowledge then we research into the forensics, the police procedures, criminal law and other aspects required to make the story more believable. Yet it is the setting, the premise and the central idea that I need to have in place before forming a workable plot outline.
The idea for Stench came from a thought.
“What happens when people slowly decline in their mental health and nobody steps in to help them?”
A sequence of events would usually form the basis for a plot, however in my early planning stages for Stench I found myself working through a series of inactions. Omissions, lack of compassion, an absence of understanding or willingness to help would inevitably have consequences for an individual relapsing into psychosis, and these negative components drew my attention.
What would be the consequences of inaction? How would this impact on each character? Why wouldn’t people respond to a situation in a similar way? What was the reason behind reticence to act or conversely to respond positively and proactively?
Plotting is a drain on the brain.
Our dog, Sadie, likes a good walk, which is fortunate because when I walk I plot. It is not unusual for me to be seen chuntering to myself, hands waving around like a madwoman, as I think through ideas, walk them through in my head and then, more often than not, dismiss them as ludicrous. I throw them away with the ball launched for the dog. Occasionally she reaches the point of exhaustion before I realise how many times she has retrieved the ball as I create, review, and reject.
‘No, that will never work you blithering idiot woman,’ I say aloud.
Eventually Sadie will drag me home for a cup of tea and it is there that the bonkers ideas settle into a workable bare-bones plan. Not every time but on most occasions I am able to scribble out a mind map of usable ideas.
The plotting forms the trunk of a tree. The branches of this tree become the depth of the story, the three dimensional structure to the book. Unfortunately in the case of Stench I was working just within the limits of a comfortable progression when the characters took over and the tale took on the structure of a “whydunnit” as well as a “whodunit”.
Was there such a thing as a “whydunnit”?
Why not?
What research was needed?
As before, when planning out the basics of previous novels, I didn’t need to do in-depth research into mental health experiences when writing Stench. Working in mental health services for a couple of decades had gifted me enough knowledge to manage in that regard. However, I had also decided to mould the story around a new character, Rory Norton, and he was a motorcycle instructor.
We are advised to write what we know and, would you believe it, only last year I decided to have a proper mid-life crisis and learn to ride a motorbike. The challenges thrown up during those few weeks of lessons and the dreaded tests (Theory, CBT, Modules 1 and 2) were unexpected, funny and taxing for an old brain. Some of them are neatly reflected in the pages of Stench, as are descriptions of a relapse in severe mental illness, glimpses into the lives of unsavoury characters, poorly functioning health services, damage caused by idle gossip and a man desperate to prove his innocence. All that from one thought …
☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠
Author Bio
Married to an overgrown child with a beard and too many motorbikes, Alison Morgan lives in a corner of a field in North Bedfordshire and is making the most of a mid-life crisis. The Morgans are determined not to grow old gracefully or to be seen wearing beige and can be found exploring life through a love of live music, anything with an engine, the sea, mountains, rugby, proper pubs and fascinating people.
Alison worked for the NHS for nearly thirty years, twenty of those within mental health services, at the front line. She eventually became the manager of a countywide community service for people experiencing their first episode of psychosis. Much to her frustration, her heart decided to develop an electrical fault, which forced her to sit down for more than five minutes and her career juddered to a halt. Not one for thumb twiddling, she took up position in front of a computer with a plan to write a set of clinical guidelines for assessment of psychosis but instead a story, which had been lurking in her mind for several years, came tumbling out.
Her first two novels, A Justifiable Madness and Divine Poison, were inspired by her career as a psychiatric nurse and her fascination with the extremes of human behaviour. Then she stepped sideways and wrote a gritty psychological thriller, The Camera Lies. All published by Bloodhound Books, Alison’s novels have received excellent reviews and inspired many an interesting debate. Above all, they are entertaining reads and, despite dark subjects, will raise a smile.
Links:
Email: alison@abmorgan.co.uk
Facebook: @ABMorganwriter
Twitter: @AliMorgan2304
LinkedIn: Ali Morgan
☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠
If you enjoyed My Post then please Share so we can get Everyone Reading and Talking about..... Stench!
You can also follow along with the Blog Tour by Checking out the Poster Below ⬇️
☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠🕵🏻♂️❔☠
Comments
Post a Comment