Welcome a guest post by Lisa Regan, author of Aberration.
FBI analyst Kassidy Bishop is assigned to the “For You” Killer’s Task Force after a series of sadistic murders bearing the same signature arise in different parts of the country, but when the investigation leads directly back to her, she is forced to delve into her own past. To find the killer, Kassidy must confront the painful memories of her twin sister's mysterious death or risk losing everything to a ruthless madman—including her own life.
When I was in college completing my undergrad degree, I lived for a time in this very small apartment that I not-very-affectionately called “the shoebox.” It was small, which meant that there were not many places to lose things. But there was this period of time during my residence there that my personal items began to disappear—never to be found again. First it was my lucky blue hair scrunchy. Then it was two books I was reading for one of my English classes. I remember those the clearest because I had left them on the couch, left the apartment, and when I came back they were gone. I looked everywhere for them, tore my entire apartment to shreds (which didn’t take long). Then I had a moment of maybe-I’m-nuts-and-they-weren’t-really-here, and I retraced my steps for the two or three days before that. They weren’t at any of the places I had been. This was a problem because I needed them for a class. I ended up having to buy new copies, and I never did find those books. There were several other items that went missing. Nothing very big, just small things you might easily misplace.
Obviously, since I’m a crime writer, my first thought was that someone was sneaking in and taking these items. I was never able to catch anyone or find any evidence of this and eventually things stopped disappearing, but it got my mind working. I kept thinking, “What if you had this really benign stalker who never did anything to harm you but was always creeping around, keeping an eye on you?” Thus, the premise for Aberration was born.
That’s how the idea started out—this idea of a stalker. Of course a benign stalker doesn’t make for very good entertainment so I had to add some conflict, which eventually came into the story as a serial killer. I don’t want to give away too much because it will spoil the surprises in the book, but let’s just say that in this book there is a stalker who starts out with good intentions but ends up as a serial killer.
When I first got the idea for Aberration, FBI profilers were all the rage. John Douglas, one of the founders of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit had released his book, Mind Hunter which detailed his early career in profiling and how the unit came into being as well as the kinds of techniques they used in their work. It was very fascinating and a great thing to add to my story, and thus my main character became a Behavioral Analyst or a profiler.
I was so engrossed in all of Douglas’ books as well as books by Robert K. Ressler and Katherine Ramsland. I even seriously considered going back to school to become a criminologist, but life had other plans for me.
So basically the missing items led to my question of what if you had a benign stalker? To add conflict, I brought in the serial killer element and to go with that, I made the main character a profiler.
• Website http://www.lisaregan.com/
• Blog http://www.lisalregan.blogspot.com/
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-Regan/189735444395923
• Twitter https://twitter.com/Lisalregan
• Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6443334.Lisa_Regan
• Amazon Author Page http://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Regan/e/B009YY091I/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
Guest Post: THE INSPIRATION FOR ABERRATION
When I was in college completing my undergrad degree, I lived for a time in this very small apartment that I not-very-affectionately called “the shoebox.” It was small, which meant that there were not many places to lose things. But there was this period of time during my residence there that my personal items began to disappear—never to be found again. First it was my lucky blue hair scrunchy. Then it was two books I was reading for one of my English classes. I remember those the clearest because I had left them on the couch, left the apartment, and when I came back they were gone. I looked everywhere for them, tore my entire apartment to shreds (which didn’t take long). Then I had a moment of maybe-I’m-nuts-and-they-weren’t-really-here, and I retraced my steps for the two or three days before that. They weren’t at any of the places I had been. This was a problem because I needed them for a class. I ended up having to buy new copies, and I never did find those books. There were several other items that went missing. Nothing very big, just small things you might easily misplace.
Obviously, since I’m a crime writer, my first thought was that someone was sneaking in and taking these items. I was never able to catch anyone or find any evidence of this and eventually things stopped disappearing, but it got my mind working. I kept thinking, “What if you had this really benign stalker who never did anything to harm you but was always creeping around, keeping an eye on you?” Thus, the premise for Aberration was born.
That’s how the idea started out—this idea of a stalker. Of course a benign stalker doesn’t make for very good entertainment so I had to add some conflict, which eventually came into the story as a serial killer. I don’t want to give away too much because it will spoil the surprises in the book, but let’s just say that in this book there is a stalker who starts out with good intentions but ends up as a serial killer.
When I first got the idea for Aberration, FBI profilers were all the rage. John Douglas, one of the founders of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit had released his book, Mind Hunter which detailed his early career in profiling and how the unit came into being as well as the kinds of techniques they used in their work. It was very fascinating and a great thing to add to my story, and thus my main character became a Behavioral Analyst or a profiler.
I was so engrossed in all of Douglas’ books as well as books by Robert K. Ressler and Katherine Ramsland. I even seriously considered going back to school to become a criminologist, but life had other plans for me.
So basically the missing items led to my question of what if you had a benign stalker? To add conflict, I brought in the serial killer element and to go with that, I made the main character a profiler.
Lisa Regan is a suspense novelist. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Master of Education Degree from Bloomsburg University. She is a member of Sisters In Crime and Pennwriters. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter. Her first novel, Finding Claire Fletcher was recently nominated for the eFestival of Words Best of the Independent eBook Awards in three categories: Best Novel, Best Thriller and Best Heroine for Claire Fletcher.
ONLINE LINKS:• Website http://www.lisaregan.com/
• Blog http://www.lisalregan.blogspot.com/
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-Regan/189735444395923
• Twitter https://twitter.com/Lisalregan
• Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6443334.Lisa_Regan
• Amazon Author Page http://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Regan/e/B009YY091I/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
Thank you so much for hosting me! :)
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