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Death Nest: Inspiration and Influences
What inspired my latest mystery thriller novel?
NOTE: The following is the first in a series of three about my mystery thriller novel Death Nest, revised from pieces originally published on my website last year.
What inspired, influenced, or otherwise informed my latest novel, Death Nest? It has a strange history. I’ve already written about how intensely personal the book is on a metaphorical level, but whilst the novel frames this by exploring traumatic sibling relationships, parental fears, and the misleading nature of memory, the genesis of the story itself came from an altogether different source.
A cursory glance at my scribbled notes informs me the first time I conceived this story was in early 2019, but the premise is rather different. At that point, the working title was simply Film Censor and the protagonist was female. She worked at the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in London, where films are given certificates (U, PG, 12A, 15, and 18). Here, she views a film that features an image of what appears to be a young girl who mysteriously vanished during her childhood. How has the director managed to capture this young girl on film? Is it a ghost? Or someone who simply looks like her?