Katie,

It's very reassuring (for me at least) to hear from an agent/agency that a writer's name doesn't matter whether it be Sharon Smith or ...Nahed Rashad, say I know you speak for yourself and not everyone, but since Elspeth is one of the agencies I'm sending out to (should reach you tomorrow by the way ) it's one less thing for me to worry about in this instance.

Re. not remembering the author's name when you're browsing the aisles...you're absolutely right - you will remember the title of the book, but you can wrack your brains for the name til you're blue in the face and it won't come to you. Unless your book has been turned into a successful movie and you hit celebrity status then I imagine most authors names remain relatively unknown or forgettable even if they do become best sellers.

IB!

I was referring to female serial killers, so watch out!

Dee

Nahed,

Just read your profile, almost the same as mine! How do you manage to write with two little ones? For me early morning has always been my time but thia is getting harder and harder and by the time they go to bed I'm too knackered to think straight.

Gina.

Hi Gina!

Well, one of my little ones isn't so little...not really. She's 9 going on 19 and my son has just starting his terrible 3's...actually come to think of it he's always been in the 'terrible' phase. I love him really! I'm also very lucky to have a wonderfully understanding, supportive and extremely flexible boss who allows me to work part-time to support my writing habit and work around my husband's roster. My husband is also very supportive and will keep them out of my hair if he's home and gives me time during the day to write. But my writing is usually from around 9 pm to whenever I notice the late hour.

To tell you the truth I don't know how I do it. I don't know where I get the energy from but it's there...perhaps it's adrenaline? You know when you've just got the taste of a great story and your typing away like a lunatic and the next time you look at the clock it's 2 in the morning. There's no escaping the tiny human alarm clock four and half hours later who has no concept of weekends, lie-ins or the panicked words 'mummy can't open her eyes sweetheart, they're sealed shut from sleep deprivation'. So you peel your eyes open, guzzle your coffee, run yourself ragged taking care of everyone, settle down to some more maniacal typing and do the thing all over again! Your body gets used to it after a while I guess. Look at me now...It's past midnight and I've got to get up early tomorrow to get to work...!

Keep at it Gina, I don't know how old your little ones are but maybe you can get them used to playing quietly beside you while you write? Obviously, children will always come first (hence where I said in my profile that I write whenever my kids will let me), and if it means my quality writing time suffers then so be it, but I think if the children are old enough to understand you'd be surprised at how accommodating they can be when they know or are reassured that you're close by or can see you.

Good luck! Must pop off now, beauty sleep beckons!

Steven

Sorry about this - it doesn't always take me four days to wake up - but if

there's only been one female serial killer in history

why do you need a

theory on female serial killers ?(Note your plural!)

Did I miss something?

John

On Discovery I saw a programme about a little sweet old lady who poisoned all her husbands, (she had a few), did make me laugh,as she was the last person they suspected.
Proves, you can’t judge a book by it’s Cover…or can you?

Gina Gordon sounds like a romance writer. Gina, Are you writing romance?

Dawn,

Ah!! So there is more than one of them!

Becca,

Yes, you're absolutely right. I did a search under that name and some rather unpleasant mug shots of the female serial killer in question, subsequently bringing back horrible memories of THAT GRINNING PICTURE So yes, thank you, I'm now fascinated with the Aileen Carol Wuornos case. Even her name is terrifying if you ask me. And now I have her face stuck in my memory, she had the most evil face I have ever seen! She's been executed now I think, so I can unlock the door.

And Becca, maybe you can answer this question as you're someone in the literary field. Why is it the Crime section is always six times bigger than the Horror section? Have I missed something, what has happened to horror? Are audiences so bloodthirsty they have turned to reading true-life crime books about serial killers? Very macabre, I can't fathom it out. And poodles, they're nasty animals dead or alive, such nasty sharp teeth. Thank you for identifying that it was Aileen Wuornos, I can now answer Jumbo's question.

So Jumbo,

So sorry you're having difficulty waking up, have you tried coffee? Why do I need "a theory on female killers if there's only been one female serial killer in history"? Hmmm, well Jumbo the article I read when I was a kid covered the Aileen Wuornos case and mentioned something to the effect that she was the first documented case of a female serial killer. As in, the fact that she really was a methodical serial killer. She tried to hide the fact that she'd killed her victims in self-defence [not a female serial killer then], but she was proved to have killed them all under pre-meditated cold blood [she was a female serial killer then], and she was the first female serial killer to be profiled, tried, analysed, documented, studied etc. All the other female serial killers from the past are classed
as murderess' if that is the correct phrase to use.

Because it was so long ago when I'd read it, and the article was published, I was under the impression that she was the very first. You have to remember that the term 'serial killer' was only coined in the seventies. And I was only born in the eighties. So Lizzy Borden was just a murderer when she went on her little chopping spree all those years ago.

And why do I need a theory on female serial killers? Well, that's simple, I write horror fiction and you never know when a female serial killer might pop up in one of my stories. They always come in handy. And the theory is a simple one that applies to female serial killer[s] because most of them are extremely cunning. If you see a woman covered in blood what would you automatically assume? You'd think that she'd been attacked because most people's reaction is to assume that women are weaker and in danger [I am not stating this!], so people assume that a man is responsible. Just think how many women have gotten away with murder, and are continuing to do just that. Yes Becca, you too could be a serial killer and we would never suspect! ļ

Steven


<Added>

Sorry, I don't know where that funny little 'f' and '0' came from, it was meant to be a smilie, not profanity :(

Well Steven, F.O. could mean anything. Don't know the answer to why there is so much 'literature' on murders and less on horror. Just a fashion probably, and good original horror is very hard to write. But yes, she was executed and it was the fact that she was a serial killer rather than her having killed several people in the same incident that marked her out. The theory was that when upsetting things happened in her own life, and the men she picked up as a hitch-hiker treated her badly, she did them in. Six of them, a very small number in comparison to the number she rode with, surprisingly small; but the two factors had to come together at the same time. Sorry to have directed you back to the horror of it.
This has strayed a long way from pen names!
Becca.