Monday, February 15, 2016

Creepy is as Creepy Does

Hi, I’m Eileen Rendahl and I’m new to Midnight Ink and to the Midnight Ink blog. My first Midnight Ink book, Cover Me in Darkness, is scheduled for release in December. It seems like a long way away, but in publishing years it’s about a nano-second.

The genesis of this story is something that has been bubbling under the surface since my childhood. In the quiet Midwestern University town I grew up in, a mother killed one of her children. What made this extra scary was that after killing one of her three children, she woke a second child to ask for help in killing the third.

I was about ten when this all happened. Grown-ups talked about it in hushed voices and stopped talking about it when kids came into the room. We still heard about it, but I doubt what we heard was all that accurate. To give you an idea of what my home life was like, it had never occurred to me that a mother would hurt her child. Mothers were the source of comfort and care and love. The idea that a mother could be anything else was terrifying. Over the years, I’d think about it and wonder what it would have felt like to be the kid who was asked to help. That was terrifying, too.

A lot of that wondering went into creating the character of Amanda Sinclair, heroine of Cover Me in Darkness. Like the case from my childhood, a mother killed a child and sought help from a second child to kill a third. Unlike the case from my childhood, Amanda’s mother was caught up in a cult-like religious group called Children of the Greater God or COGG.

When Amanda’s mother commits suicide in the mental ward where she’s been locked up for the past decade, Amanda isn’t surprised. But when she looks through the personal belongings left behind, it seems her death may be related to the upcoming parole hearing for COGG leader Patrick Collier. Amanda must dig into the past and expose her own secrets as well as her mother’s to get to the truth.

To write this book, I’m definitely digging into my dark side. It’s always been there. I doubt I would have been as fascinated by a murder as a ten-year-old otherwise. How about you? Do you have a creepy side? Is there something from your childhood that makes you want to take a closer look at it?

14 comments:

Emma Burcart said...

That sounds so good! I definitely have a creepy side and I love the idea of the child who was asked to help being the one to tell the story. I remember growing up hearing many stories of mothers killing their children,probably starting with the story of La Llorona. I can't wait to read this book!

Emma Burcart said...

That sounds so good! I definitely have a creepy side and I love the idea of the child who was asked to help being the one to tell the story. I remember growing up hearing many stories of mothers killing their children,probably starting with the story of La Llorona. I can't wait to read this book!

Eileen said...

Thanks, Emma! It feels kind of amazing to actually use this in a book.

Alex Bledsoe said...

That sounds really intriguing. I pull a lot of my ideas from real-life events, too; nothing we can imagine can ever be as bizarre, or as horrifying, as what real people actually do.

Anna J Stewart said...

Now I really can't wait to read this! So excited about you investigating your dark side . I definitely think I've had things from my childhood seep into my writing, especially with the suspense I'm working on now. Can be quite cathartic as well. Great post! <3

Eileen said...

I can't wait to read yours, too, Anna! I loved the concept.

Lisa Alber said...

Great post, Eileen!

Sarah said...

In the 70's Johnny Carson said if you want to get away with murder move to Green Bay, WI, my home town. Lots of scary stuff to try to forget!

Eileen said...

Ooh, Sarah! I lived in Madison for a couple of years and have an abiding love of Wisconsin because of it, but you're right. There's some spooky stuff underneath all those pleasant smiles and all that good cheese.

Kris Calvin said...

Hard one for me, but having recently read your "dark" short story (remind me where it was published, I want my own copy!), which is possibly the best short story I've ever read, I know you can handle any topic with intellect and humor, making even the most difficult topics accessible. (And yes, I saud that all in one sentence, it's how I'm feeling this morning.)

Kris Calvin said...

"said" not "saud", where's autocorrect when I need it? But you get the idea....

Patricia Rickrode w/a Jansen Schmidt said...

Sounds like a great read Eileen. I can't wait for its release. And the cover is great, too!

Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt

Eileen said...

Aw, Kris, you're so sweet. I'm glad you liked the short story. I learned a lot writing it!

And Patricia, thank you! It's going to be hard to wait until December for it to come out!

Marilyn Reynolds said...

I can hardly wait!