Everyone give a big hearty hello to today’s guest blogger, A.L. Kessler!
Real Crime Inspiring Urban Fantasy
My primary series is Here Witchy Witchy which follows Abigail Collins, a witch who hunts down paranormal criminals. She mostly deals with murders with a supernatural twist. This is a fun and sometimes frightening series to write, because in order make sure that my supernatural characters can get away with it, I first have to make sure humans can. I’ve done a lot of research on some interesting situations and some terrifying one.
Why base paranormal crimes on true situations? Because it gives the world and case a sense of realism. When it comes to things like say, keeping people in a basement for years at a time, it’s easier to believe that a monster has done it instead of a human. Though there are many cases of humans actually keeping people in a basement ranging anywhere from a few days to a decade with some horrible things involved. (I’m sparing the details for the faint of heart) I was able to take this idea and use it as a basis for my book The Trouble with Ghosts which deals with a haunted house that had over thirty bodies discovered in the basement.
One of the things that I discovered while researching is humans are capable of some scary and some very weird things. Though some of them churn my stomach I find a lot of it fascinating and I can lose myself in the research. When it comes to Urban Fantasy, the setting is typically in the world we know today. So the idea that an author can pick out these crimes and plop them into their world only adds to the suspension of disbelief allowing the reader to become completely immersed in the world and maybe start to wonder what if. What if supernatural creatures were behind crimes like this?
Are there any crimes that you think are stranger than fiction that would be inspiring to an urban fantasy or mystery author?
About the Author:
A.L. Kessler is an urban fantasy and paranormal romance author best known for her Here Witchy Witchy series. She lives in beautiful Colorado and has a fondness for coffee and chocolate. You can learn more about her at: www.facebook.com/alkesslerauthor
