Why I Write About The Dark Side of Love

A few years ago, I took an intro to fiction writing course and during one of the evening breaks, I was chatting with the instructor about the various manuscripts I had on ice.  He asked me what they were about and without even thinking about it, I said, “Well, mostly about the dark side of love.”

That was the first time I had articulated not only out loud, and internally for that matter, a theme for the types of things I wrote about.  Frankly, it wasn’t something I’d ever even thought about.   At that time, I had three full-length manuscripts (in content anyway.  They were all far from pretty – “Live and Let Die,” “Sweet Little Lies” and the forthcoming, “Every Breath You Take”) under my belt.  Without even realizing it, I had drawn a pretty distinct thread through all of them—each story featured love gone wrong, with deception and murder figuring quite prominently into the action.  I went home that night and looked over my sheet of story ideas for future books and noticed they ALL had this same premise.

Just a sample of some of my "light" reading.
 
While I’ve spent my fair share of time on the dark side of love (though I’ve never killed anyone…in real life that is ;-) ), I think what really fascinates me the most about this topic is that we never really know what goes on between two people, which is what makes these stories all the more shocking and frankly, heartbreaking.  Whether it be the seemingly happily married couple or the girl next door, it’s always appalling to hear about a husband murdering his wife instead of divorcing her (Scott Peterson) or tales of “if I can’t have you, nobody can,” (Jodi Arias) or the wife seducing her lover into killing her husband (Pam Smart).  Most of us just can’t fathom the darkness and depravity that drives people to such heinous acts.

We'll always be fascinated by the Jodi Arias' of the world
Right now, I’m enjoying exploring this darker side of life as it were.  Yes, I spend far too much time watching Investigation Discovery and the suspense/mystery novels on my bookshelf far outnumber all other genres combined.  What can I say – you like what you like.
As part of this month’s “Tales From the Dark Side…of Love” promotion on my blog, I’m offering a signed paperback copy of my book, “Sweet Little Lies.” Enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win the book, along with a lot of other fabulous prizes!
 
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