Crossing the Border Between this World and Another Dimension
By SC Skillman
I’m delighted to have this chance to tell you about my newly-completed novel Director’s Cut, which is currently on submission to publishers and agents. As a writer of psychological, paranormal and mystery fiction and non-fiction, I always like to include an element of magic in my stories, something that shifts the action out of the realms of the ‘known’ and onto the cusp between so-called ‘reality’ and another dimension. Director’s Cut is the first in a proposed contemporary fiction series: The Dylan Rafferty Mysteries. The main protagonist of my series is Dylan, gifted young musical rebel.
In Director’s Cut, set in south London, Dylan enters the eerie seventeenth century house of the dysfunctional Beauchamp family, to meet his favourite actress, Suzanne, who is filming a TV drama there. He discovers an intergenerational curse and a tragic family history, along with a troop of ghostly actors doomed to perpetually rehearse A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the garden. Meanwhile actors, directors and film crew are all swept up into the family’s disturbing world. Dylan comes to believe he alone can save them through the power of his musical genius. But he finds that, if he is to uncover the Beauchamp family secrets, he must first encounter a supernatural being and cross the boundary between this world and another dimension. Then he must team up with a rather unusual local priest to discover the family’s secrets.
With its classic elements of the gothic haunted house genre, I see this novel sitting in the Ghost Stories section of any bookshop (where my other books are also shelved, in my local bookstores). The novel also will appeal to those who love such books as Mexican Gothic, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
The story draws upon my four decades of experience investigating ghost hunting, New Age groups, psychotherapy, transpersonal psychology, and local community mental health. One of my characters, Lucius, has been interpreted by three separate beta readers as the Devil; one reader enjoyed “the hint towards The Screwtape Letters where Screwtape confesses ‘the devil’s realm cannot stand music.’” Another of my beta readers said the story reminded her of the film The Amazing Mr Blunden, based on the novel The Ghosts by Antonia Barber, (remade as a Sky Original 90-minute film for Christmas 2021 starring Simon Callow and Mark Gatiss).
With Director’s Cut I have tried to share my insights into the human heart, through the complexity of family relationships. Misguided choices, failed communication, and the compulsion to keep secrets, all lead to tragedy. Yet my story includes humour, and I believe there must always be a redemptive story-arc.
In the second of Dylan’s adventures, Standing Ovation, this time set in Stratford-upon-Avon, Dylan seeks a role as assistant/amanuensis to Konstantin Kosoff, the great but mentally disturbed concert pianist he idolises. He gets the job but when he enters the Kosoff house he plunges into a toxic world of damaged family relationships, dark plots and deadly schemes.
My publishing career began with the duology Mystical Circles and A Passionate Spirit which are both set in the same mysterious English manor house in the heart of England – the beautiful Cotswolds hills. There, gothic themes, paranormal events and ghostly tales are never far away. I have set the stories in contemporary times, not far from my present home.
I also write inspirational non-fiction: Perilous Path, A Writer’s Journey, is a self-help book for those writing a novel, or who would like to write a novel. Packed full of tips and friendly reminders, it’s encouraging and motivational. It’s also for anyone who loves finding out about writers, their lives and works.
I live in Warwick with my husband and son, and blog weekly on my website scskillman.com about books, films, history, spirituality and people and places of inspiration. I also speak to local groups about a number of subjects, including the ups and downs of the writer’s life, the power of story as shown in classic story structure, and, most lately, about Paranormal Warwickshire. In addition, I have a very good relationship with my two local independent bookshops Warwick Books and Kenilworth Books and am also a member of the Society of Authors and the Association of Christian Writers.
Born and brought up in Orpington, Kent, I have loved writing stories most of my life. I studied English Literature at Lancaster University, and my first permanent job was as a production secretary with the BBC. Later I lived for nearly five years in Australia before returning to the UK. I have now settled in Warwick with my husband and son, and my daughter currently lives and works in Australia.
My most recent book Paranormal Warwickshire was published by Amberley Publishing in November 2020. I explore the rich supernatural heritage of this county at the heart of England, as befits the county of Shakespeare and the many ghosts and spirits he conjured up in his works. My next book for Amberley, Illustrated Tales of Warwickshire, will be published on 15th April 2022 and is now on pre-order. I will be launching the book at a special event in Kenilworth Books on 12th May 2022.
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SC Skillman
Category: On Writing
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