Sometimes You Can Come Home Again

It was with a heavy heart that I left Writers Who Kill last year. I hated to leave my blog mates and our loyal readers, but my life had grown so busy and deadline-laden that I had to let something(s) go. Writers Who Kill was one of the things I had to give up. 

I’ve dropped in from time to time to visit and kept up with many of my blog pals here. It’s been exciting to see all the anthologies in which Warren and E.B. have placed stories and to see Gloria’s and Jim’s new books out. When E.B. asked if I would come back on a more limited basis—I’d been a weekly blogger before—it seemed a good time to rejoin my pals. So here I am, like a bad penny, turning up to rejoin the gang at Writers Who Kill. This time, I’ll be here every other Monday. A big wave to all my old friends and an even bigger one to all of those who are new to me.

In keeping with the theme of homecoming, I’ve been thinking about series books and the way reading a new novel in a beloved series is like a kind of coming home to the places and characters we’ve come to love. (This is an important issue for me right now since my second novel in the Skeet Bannion series, Every Broken Trust, is getting ready to go public on May 7, and I’m naturally anxious to see whether readers will like it as well as they liked its predecessor, Every Last Secret.)

I know when I get my hands on a new Louise Penny or Deborah Crombie or Julia Spencer-Fleming or Margaret Maron or Paul Doiron or Michael Connolly I can’t wait to dive back into Three Pines or Millers Kill and the lives of characters like Judge Deborah Knott or British cops Gemma and Duncan or hotheaded but slowly maturing Mike Bowditch. These are places and people I care about and can’t wait to visit again so I can see what’s been happening with them since my last time in their company.

Recently on the Jungle Red Writers blog, Erin Mitchell talked about some fascinating brain research that shows how the brain actually experiences what it’s reading about in novels. They’ve found that activity shows in the area of the brain dealing with sensory information when the subject reads about a smell or taste and in the area of physical activity when the subject reads about kicking a ball or running from a killer and that studies have shown that those adults and children who read develop more empathy and understanding of varying human behavior and reactions.

I have always maintained that, when I’ve read a book by a really good writer, I’ve truly experienced what happened in that book, as much as if I’d gone through it in real life. This brain research seems to bear that out—and makes it easy for me to understand why these beloved characters seem real to me and I miss them when they’re not around. In fact, I miss Gamache and Gemma and Duncan more than I miss some real people in my life.

As a writer, I’m naturally eager to learn the secrets of making characters become this real to readers. Which characters have that effect on you? What places become real in your eyes? And how do you think the author manages to make it happen?

Incidentally, in honor of my forthcoming book, Every Broken Trust, I’ve put up the first chapter free on my blog and am having a series of giveaways with ARCs and other goodies all month long. So come visit and comment to be entered for the goodies.  http://lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com