Tasha Alexander on pistol-packin' mommas
Tasha Alexander's characters hearken from another time, which can be limiting when your heroine is in a tough spot. Back in the day, no too many women packed heat. Thoughts from the author of Elizabeth: The Golden Age and A Fatal Waltz:
Now, I haven't been to Baltimore in a number of years, but I'm assured that the city does, without question, kick ass. So I'm more than a little enthusiastic about Bouchercon. Perticularly given the topic of my first panel, "Janie's Got a Gun: Do you need to kick ass to be kick ass?"
Crime fiction is known for books that are edgy and full of weapons and violence—but as an author of historical suspense, I deal with some extra constraints. Victorian ladies didn’t tote guns and weren’t martial arts experts. My heroine, Lady Emily Ashton has to kick ass without doing it literally.And that can be a challenge.
In the novel I just turned in, Emily is trapped in an underground cistern with a really, really bad guy who’s wielding a gun and would happily kill her.
She could have used a gun of her own. Or an explosion. Or something. But I can’t give her those things—they wouldn’t fit with the period or her character. She has to rely on her wits to overwhelm her enemies, something that in the face of danger can be difficult in the extreme.
But it’s also immensely satisfying.
When you’re writing, sometimes getting backed into a corner can be the best thing ever—it forces you to think more creatively and keeps you from being lazy even for a moment. I spent about three days banging my head against the wall before an elegant solution came to me. But once it did, I knew that it was a better ending than one in which Emily managed to physically overpower her nemesis. She kicks ass, but by using her brain.
To read all the Bouchercon guests posts, click here.
While she always preferred The Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew, 
