Ask the Author: Tim Prasil
Answered Questions (3)
Tim Prasil
For some unfathomable reason, I'm attracted to the often-gloomy settings of Thomas Hardy's novels. Think Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. They're set in England's West Country.
Is it the accent? Is it the haunted moors? Is it the atmosphere of tragedy? Who knows? It just seems like a great place to warm up at the pub on a miserable night. And that's what I would do there.
Is it the accent? Is it the haunted moors? Is it the atmosphere of tragedy? Who knows? It just seems like a great place to warm up at the pub on a miserable night. And that's what I would do there.
Tim Prasil
I'm in the early stages of the third novel in the Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mysteries series. Since Vera and her "sidekick" Lida have rather strong parallels to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, I decided to make this story an American spin on The Hound of the Baskervilles, the great Holmes mystery.
Curiously, Arthur Conan Doyle's The House of the Baskervilles has rather strong parallels to The House of the Seven Gables, an earlier novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. There's an alleged family curse. A painting of a sinister ancestor who resembles a living descendant. A brother recently out of prison. I'm trying to work all of these elements into my own story -- but in ways that are amusing and possibly even clever!
Curiously, Arthur Conan Doyle's The House of the Baskervilles has rather strong parallels to The House of the Seven Gables, an earlier novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. There's an alleged family curse. A painting of a sinister ancestor who resembles a living descendant. A brother recently out of prison. I'm trying to work all of these elements into my own story -- but in ways that are amusing and possibly even clever!
Tim Prasil
Oddly, my most recent book -- Guilt Is a Ghost -- is based on an idea for a stage play that came before Help for the Haunted, the first book in the Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mysteries series. I wanted to make sure the Vera had enough adventures in her to be a good series character, and Help for the Haunted let me write about thirteen (interwoven) ghost hunts. That "composite novel" was successful, so I went back to the original idea and turned it into Guilt Is a Ghost, which is a traditional novel. Turns out it was a much better idea for a novel than for a play.
Now, how did I get the idea for that stage play? Well, it was a long time ago . . .
Now, how did I get the idea for that stage play? Well, it was a long time ago . . .
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