The
Birth of a Debut Novel: All the Pretty Girls
by
J.T. Ellison
J.T.
Ellison is the
bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Taylor Jackson series,
including
All the Pretty Girls, 14 and Judas
Kiss. She has worked
with the Metro Nashville Police Department, the FBI and various other
law
enforcement organizations to research her books. Ellison is a member of
several
writing organizations, including International Thriller Writers,
Mystery
Writers of America, Romance Writers of America and
Sisters in Crime.
I had
a dream.
I kid
you not, my career
started because of a dream. A nightmare, really. I woke in a sweat,
completely
engrossed in the lives of identical twin sisters. It was 3:00
a.m. and I
scribbled away until I had
it all on paper, then went back to bed. When I woke up, it was still
fresh in
my mind. I started writing All The Pretty Girls
that day, knowing that
it was different. Special. It was only my second attempt at a
full-length
novel, but I knew it would work. I had faith. The dream had given me
all the
answers.
All
The Pretty Girls is
the
story of a reluctant serial killer, one who has the best intentions and
motivations for his actions, and introduces Nashville Homicide
Lieutenant
Taylor Jackson and FBI profiler John Baldwin. Taylor and Baldwin chase
the
Southern Strangler all over the southeastern United
States,
trying to catch a killer who
identifies his victims with classic love poems by Wordsworth, Blake and
Coleridge. He defiles their bodies by cutting off their hands, then
sends clues
to a local reporter. It’s definitely a thriller, but not your
typical serial
killer novel. It’s all about the psychology, for me, not the
titillation of
violence. I love to figure out what motivates people to do things, and
the
Southern Strangler’s motivations, while originally pure, are
perverted by his
desires.
When I
was younger I
studied psychology, even thought about a path in psychiatry for a brief
moment
(the whole med school cadaver thing was too much for my delicate
constitution
to handle.) Then I got caught up in the thrill of politics and veered
away from
that path. Finding it again through writing has been one of my greatest
joys. I
like to listen to people, to see what’s behind the words, the
façade. Everyone
has a secret, a shame, a motivation for their public persona. The same
goes for
a criminal. How do they decide that taking the easy way out is their
purpose in
life? What catalyst drives their break from good to evil? Where in
their psyche
does it say that cheating and stealing and murdering is good, and
right? When
do they proceed to choose that path? Choices… for me
it’s all about the choices
people make.
And
for every villain, you
must have a hero. In my stories, it’s Lieutenant Taylor
Jackson. Taylor is in
charge of Metro Nashville Homicide. She’s a Nashville girl,
born and bred. A debutante, even. She grew up in Belle Meade, the
wealthiest
part of town, with every imaginable advantage, yet she eschewed her
parents’
lifestyle to become a cop. Her mother is a socialite and her father is
a
white-collar crook, so they have no great love for Taylor’s
calling. What’s worse, Taylor’s
love
interest is Dr. John Baldwin, an FBI profiler. Though he is a doctor,
it’s not
exactly what her mother had always dreamed of for her only daughter.
Taylor’s
duty
is to keep Nashville safe.
She is an embodiment of my own hero complex – the white
knight who appears on
the scene, solves everyone’s problems, saves the day, then
rides off into the
sunset. She was born because of John Sandford’s PREY series.
I was driving down
Interstate 40, thinking about Lucas Davenport’s icy smile
that didn’t quite
reach his eyes, and that scar, and his depression, and realized I
wanted to
write about a woman in his shoes. A woman in control, who’s
strong without
being strident, who commands the respect of her peers and her enemies.
One
who’s worked hard and paid her dues. Taylor
literally leapt fully formed into my mind, talking in that low, smoky
drawl,
and I was hooked. I knew I had to tell her story. She’s half
cop, half rock
star to Nashville.
She’s
a wonderful character to write – difficult, sometimes, but a
lot of fun. My
Athena. Nashville’s
Athena.
I also
wanted Nashville to be
a
major character in my books. We have big city problems, the same kind
of crime
as New
York and
LA.
I moved to Nashville in
1998, and I fell in love with the dichotomies, the sights and smells
and its
unique Southernness. All that constrained politeness; it’s
the perfect setting
for murder.
I had
a major roadblock to
writing the story—I knew nothing about being a cop. My
expertise was fully
informed by Law & Order. I needed to do a great deal of
research so the
characters would ring true. So I called down to my local homicide
office,
chatted up the kind detective who answered the phone, and finagled a
ride-along
invitation. Metro Homicide has been overwhelmingly open with me,
allowing me to
ride along several times, setting me up on midnight
patrol,
everything. I couldn’t have made these books half as
realistic without their
help. I did several ride-alongs with homicide and went out on midnight shift
patrol. It was incredibly
eye opening.
I
learned very quickly that
television and movies and novels romanticize police work. My first
night with
Metro Homicide was spent looking at autopsy books, talking about real
guns that
kill real people, the drugs and prostitution and murders that go
unnoticed by
the press every day. I was overwhelmed, and knew I had my impetus.
I’ve
gone along to serve a
warrant, interviewed prostitutes—taking physical descriptions
so they could be
identified when they were found dead—been first on the scene
of a stabbing. It
was bad, blood everywhere, his family crying… you can
imagine how shocking it
was. We caught the suspect, retrieved the murder weapon, then
transported him
to the Criminal Justice Center in the backseat of the patrol
car—a killer,
literally breathing down my neck—and took him to booking. The
man he stabbed
died. When I got home, at six the next morning, I saw I had his blood
on my
cowboy boot.
It’s
hard not to get
earnest about the job our law enforcement does after that, and it had a
huge
impact on my writing. I want everyone, from laypeople to law
enforcement, to
read my books and think – hey, that’s just how
it’s done.
My
research had led me to
Tennessee’s forensic odontologist, who did identifications in
New York after
9/11, to the Manhattan Medical Examiner’s office, to forensic
anthropologists
trying to identify year-old remains, to Interpol and New Scotland Yard
and the
Italian Carabinieri, and finally, to the FBI. It’s very
important to me. To be
honest, research is one of the best, most exciting aspects of this job.
Aside
from titling, that
is. I love to title, and All The Pretty Girls was
no exception. All of
my books are steeped in mythology and fairy tales; the titles rise out
of the
books thematic foundation. All The Pretty Girls was
a combo platter: a
Grimm Brothers tale called Jorinda and Jorindel,
and the old nursery
rhyme: “Mary Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?
With silver bells
and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row.” The image
of the growing
garden was especially important to the story.
They
say it takes a
village, and for a debut author, that’s the absolute truth.
I’ve worked with a
critique group since 2005, and I was lucky enough to be mentored by a
couple of
brilliant writers: John Connolly, who saved me from giving up when he
told me
that all good books find a home, and Lee Child, who was always willing
to
listen, suggest and mentor, for which I am eternally grateful.
Lee’s advice on
promotion and how to keep a series character fresh and exciting has
been
invaluable. His obvious discipline and “help
others” attitude is a standard I
try to hold myself to. He teaches by example, which is rare in a world
where competition
is paramount.
I had
a dream. It had some
twists and turns along the way, but, strangely enough, it came true.
Published
by MIRA, pbk £6.99
More
about this author: www.jtellison.com
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