MONROE - A local mystery writer is a killer with a smile.
Sue Curran, Monroe, has a twinkle in her eye when she talks about killing off some interesting characters in her new book, "Battle of Wills," published last month.
"But they're just characters I made up," she said. "And only the bad ones die."
In "Battle of Wills," Curran weaves generations of fictional Southern characters with a real lake setting in Prattville, Ala., much of it drawn from her upbringing.
Born and raised in Birmingham, Ala., Curran said she knows enough about the Southern culture and settings to give readers just enough detail.
She takes her readers from the grand Southern mansion parlor of John Pennington in 1850 to the present-day shores of Cooters Pond, a natural habitat of large freshwater turtles that are known locally as cooters, just off the Alabama River.
Curran doesn't include the morbid details about the violence happening "off stage." She also keeps graphic sex and strong language out of her books.
"My 94-year-old mother, who is a strong Methodist, could read this book," she said.
She does, however, like to lead her readers down the wrong path and let them think the solution to the mystery is easy.
"I just like puzzles," she said.
The youngest of five siblings, and the closest one to her age being a brother five years older, Curran said she wrote to entertain herself. She has been writing stories since age 9, and eventually wrote children's stories for her own two children.
Curran's characters and settings are vivid.
She not only dreams in brilliant color - her first book, "Blood Dreams and White Lies," was a whole movie dreamed in one night - she writes the stories in longhand with colored inks.
"(Colored ink) jolts the brain," she said "and helps me not have writer's block."
Curran likes discovering a mystery's ending. So before stories are typed in to a computer, she writes first drafts in journals, free-flow without an outline.
"I don't want to know what happens in the end, and then have to go back and rewrite it," Curran said.
With her new book coming out, Curran has no plans to take a break from writing. In her closets are the skeletons of 17 books, waiting to be finished.
"It's like that Pink Floyd song; there's voices in my head and they're not me," she said.
Everyday, for at least four to six hours, Curran make herself sit down and work.
Sometimes characters disturb her at night until she gets up, even at 3 a.m. and writes their story.
One elderly woman character wasn't satisfied with the first story about her, and "kept bugging me until I had written a 6-act play," Curran said.
Curran has set 2011 as the year to promote "Battle of Wills." She will be signing her new book from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12 at the Monroe County Club.
One dollar of every book sold is going into the new animal shelter building fund for Green County Humane Society, where Curran has been a volunteer and past board member.
Sue Curran, Monroe, has a twinkle in her eye when she talks about killing off some interesting characters in her new book, "Battle of Wills," published last month.
"But they're just characters I made up," she said. "And only the bad ones die."
In "Battle of Wills," Curran weaves generations of fictional Southern characters with a real lake setting in Prattville, Ala., much of it drawn from her upbringing.
Born and raised in Birmingham, Ala., Curran said she knows enough about the Southern culture and settings to give readers just enough detail.
She takes her readers from the grand Southern mansion parlor of John Pennington in 1850 to the present-day shores of Cooters Pond, a natural habitat of large freshwater turtles that are known locally as cooters, just off the Alabama River.
Curran doesn't include the morbid details about the violence happening "off stage." She also keeps graphic sex and strong language out of her books.
"My 94-year-old mother, who is a strong Methodist, could read this book," she said.
She does, however, like to lead her readers down the wrong path and let them think the solution to the mystery is easy.
"I just like puzzles," she said.
The youngest of five siblings, and the closest one to her age being a brother five years older, Curran said she wrote to entertain herself. She has been writing stories since age 9, and eventually wrote children's stories for her own two children.
Curran's characters and settings are vivid.
She not only dreams in brilliant color - her first book, "Blood Dreams and White Lies," was a whole movie dreamed in one night - she writes the stories in longhand with colored inks.
"(Colored ink) jolts the brain," she said "and helps me not have writer's block."
Curran likes discovering a mystery's ending. So before stories are typed in to a computer, she writes first drafts in journals, free-flow without an outline.
"I don't want to know what happens in the end, and then have to go back and rewrite it," Curran said.
With her new book coming out, Curran has no plans to take a break from writing. In her closets are the skeletons of 17 books, waiting to be finished.
"It's like that Pink Floyd song; there's voices in my head and they're not me," she said.
Everyday, for at least four to six hours, Curran make herself sit down and work.
Sometimes characters disturb her at night until she gets up, even at 3 a.m. and writes their story.
One elderly woman character wasn't satisfied with the first story about her, and "kept bugging me until I had written a 6-act play," Curran said.
Curran has set 2011 as the year to promote "Battle of Wills." She will be signing her new book from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12 at the Monroe County Club.
One dollar of every book sold is going into the new animal shelter building fund for Green County Humane Society, where Curran has been a volunteer and past board member.