Episode Details

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Get the full show notes out on the blog here.

Theme for the day

Scary Series: Serial Killers

Agenda

• SCWA Upcoming events and goings-on
• It’s October! Let’s Halloween!
• What’s up with Serial Killers?
• How to write a convincing serial killer

I’m reading You right now which is a thriller about a stalker / serial killer that was made into a Netflix series. It’s crazy good. The narrator is so compelling I’m having a hard time putting it down. And the violence is so matter-of-fact and seemingly the next-logical-step that you don’t even have time to anticipate or dread it.

Thing is, I (Kasie) don’t know anything about how to do this. And Rex had done it before, so this might be a “how to” and it might be a general explanation of why a writer would take this on.

I googled “Writing Serial Killers” and found this awesome article. So let’s start there. Essential elements:

• The killer — who is s/he? What do they want?
• The victim — how do the two know one another? What was the last interaction the two had?
• The location and condition of the body — direct quote from the blog: Where was the victim killed? Was the body transported and dumped? Was there and attempt to hide the victims identity? Why? How were they killed? Was it overkill? Rage?