Category: Mystery, Detective Mystery
Tour Dates April 17-May 19, 2023
ISBN: 978-1955065788
Available in Print and ebook, 271 pages
Description Where No One Will See by Felicia Watson
Lucia Scafetti, a Philly private eye, has tried to move out of the shadow of her infamous crime family. She has her own business, her beloved dog Rocco, and she’s starting to date the cute lawyer down the hall. Her life is upended when her notorious hitman father disappears while in search of the diamond and gold coins he stole from his last victim.
Guest Review by Laura Lee
'Where No One Will See,' by Felicia Watson is an
unexpected joy in the form of a noir-style detective mystery.
Lucia Scafetti is a 20-something woman living in the
mean streets of West Philadelphia in the summer of 1995. Working as a private
investigator, Lucia sees her fair share of criminals and low-lifes, but
truthfully, she had quite a bit of experience with that group from the time
that she was born.
See, Lucia comes from a family of criminals, one of
the biggest being her father who has been in prison for the last 18 years. Lucia's
father, Carlo was a hitman for many years, and supposedly stole a diamond and
some rare coins before being arrested.
Upon being released from prison, Carlo visits Lucia to
insist that she hand over some personal items of his that were willed to her
after her grandmother's death. After Lucia tells him that she doesn't have what
he's looking for, Carlo leaves in a huff and a few days later, the man's car
turns up abandoned.
Carlo's family believe that he was killed, but Lucia
is hesitant to agree, knowing how wily her father is. But, when another body
turns up and Lucia, herself is implicated in the crime, she realizes that she
must find both her father and the missing diamond to save both of their skins.
I loved the atmosphere of this novel! Watson has a
real talent for creating a setting that is so real, you feel as if you are
there while reading. Lucia is a fantastic character and I couldn't help but
root for her as the story progressed. I really wanted her to succeed in her
business and with her new romantic interest, Hank, a lawyer who just set up
office in her building.
This was a five-star read for me!
Awards for Felicia Watson
EVVY Award for Science Fiction, 2020 -We Have Met the Enemy
Guest Post by Felicia Watson
How to Make Your Characters Believable
My advice on crafting believable characters is a two-parter.
Number one is to ensure that your characters are realistic: in addition to those strengths and virtues we love to give them, they must have weaknesses, shortcomings, and especially flaws. Not flaws like oh, they’re clumsy or they don’t stand up for themselves but true moral failings that help drive the plot.
Number two, is for you, the author, to know them, intimately. Not only know who they are but why they are that way. The better you know your characters, understand what motivates and drives them, the more flesh-and-blood people they will become for you. That knowledge precludes an author treating their characters as mere chess pieces who move around the board as the plot directs.
But wait, you say – shouldn’t the characters serve the plot? Yes and no. (You saw that coming – didn’t you?)
Yes, the characters should serve the plot, but they must do so in ways that are internally consistent with their personality, values, and life experience. For example, let’s say you’ve just come to that part of your story where the plot calls for someone to jump into the fray and fight the over-powering villain, possibly sacrificing themselves for the greater good. How exciting! Problem is you took my advice to imbue your characters with moral failings so you’re left with a character who is a self-serving coward, with no hints that more may lie beneath that selfish exterior. If you go ahead and use that character anyway then, sorry, epic fail as an author, even if the story remains compelling.
Of course, the problem is that most offences of “whiplash characterization” aren’t as cut-and-dried as that example so it can be easy for an author to overlook. We’re so immersed in the plot and the writing that it’s easy to think, ‘Sure, my character would pull that 180 – why not? I’m the boss and she’ll do whatever I need her to do.’ Yes, you are the boss, but the better way to handle that is for you to lay the groundwork for that scene. Make the reader believe in your character’s motivation by building the right character from the ground up. That doesn’t mean you should build a one-dimensional perfect hero – I stand by my advice that failings are important. Perfect characters leave no tension, no drama, no stakes for the reader to be invested in. The trick is to build an imperfect hero who might be able to save the day, but they must stretch themselves to do so. A balance like that can be difficult to achieve but the resulting story is so much richer and more captivating.
That art of building three-dimensional characters brings us back to the necessity for the author to intimately know their characters so they can inhabit them fully as they write. Know your character’s background, their internal drivers. What trauma drives them? What are they looking for in life? Who or what would they die for? Who do they love, unconditionally, passionately? Is it no one but themselves? What do they hate? What makes them laugh? What keeps them up at night? What scares them? Can they lie easily and well? Can they tell when someone else is lying? What unconscious biases do they have? In a flight-or-flight situation, what is their go to response? What are some of their favorite phrases? Are they eloquent or tongue-tied, well read and educated, or slangy and street-smart?
If you outline as I do or even if you pants your way through your story it’s easy to get so excited about plotting out your story that characterization takes a back-seat in the heat of the moment. And that’s okay – as long as you catch it before it’s too late. The time will come when you have to do the hard thing: scrap a scene or an entire plotline because you realize that your character couldn’t or wouldn’t do that thing or react that way at all. At this point you’re allowed to bang your head on the keyboard, mutter a few choice words and internally scream at how freaking hard writing can be. Then you need to take a deep breath and get busy rewriting that scene, replotting that arc, fixing that character. The work is hard but the reward is high. The day will come that you’ll have that moment, like I did recently, when a reader will say something like, “I was really disappointed in that character when they did that thing, but it was so them.” That’s when you’ll know that you’ve gotten it right.
©Felicia Watson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FeliciaWatsontheAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feliciatheauthor/
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Giveaway Where No One Will See by Felicia Watson
This giveaway is for 3 print or ebook copies. Print is open to the U.S. only and ebook is open worldwide.Follow Where No One Will See by Felicia Watson
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I'm so glad Laura enjoyed 'Where No One Will See'! Thanks so much for hosting Felicia!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome!
DeleteYes, thanks for the opportunity to be featured on your awesome blog!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome! It is much better now that I got rid of the ads! Good luck with your book and tour!
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