A Character’s Personal Conflict
--and the Gothic Mystery writing of Linda Watkins
Every person – every character I write has some sort of internal conflict. It’s a sort of push and pull in personality that completes them. Early in any story my readers see my characters issues.
When I developed the “Timeless” characters, I wanted to set them apart from popular vampires. The typical ones seemed predictable and, in a way – despite any ferocity – simple and rule abiding. I never saw the TV show or read the story but heard of “Twilight” vampires and sparkling. I was too familiar with the traditional and aristocratic old savages with unquenchable blood hunger who could be defeated by Christian artifacts and sunlight.
I wanted something different that made more sense – a tying of my fantasy worlds to the real and believable world. The “vampires” had become the “Timeless” Over the centuries they learned to control their hungers and tempers. Now most ordinary humans know of them as merely strange or quirky. The need for blood and to avoid sunlight has been sublimated with diet, special vitamins and lifestyle changes in the same way many of us manage chronic ailments or addictions. They have found ways to turn predatory instinct around so that they benefit society rather than feed on it. Sometimes maintaining control is a challenge. Extreme emotion, illness, trauma or injury exposes it.
In the two scenes I’m posting below, my character Markus Ilderton from “A Man in the Dark” has
discovered some of his “supply” of blood has been stolen on his oceanic trip home.
Pain had begun to creep through his arms and legs. Anemia? he thought, likely from being up too much in the day and the travel. He had sailed to New York on the SS Bremen with the attitude of a man going on a pleasure cruise with business at home tacked on the end.
Once the ship sailed, it was easy to forget about his coming duty and distract himself with evenings of entertainment. He played impromptu piano pieces to the thrilled crowds, downed ocean-legal drinks, and rubbed shoulders with men who were looking to spread influence in the States – Then there had been the women – as many as he had physically wished to pursue during the four-and-a half-day voyage. It was easy to forget he was overdoing it. Now, as he boarded the train south, he realized his predicament.
The stoppered glass vials in his train case containing human blood with drops of anticoagulant and syringes for drawing from any willing donors lay empty behind their neat rayon straps. There was a spot where some had spilled on the light blue fabric which he hadn’t noticed before.
(Now he’s arrived at a local train station, but it’s closed for the night. He’s ill, hungry and about to lose control of his savage urges. When he sees a black man afraid of approaching him, he reminds himself he is in Mississippi and not in Paris. He’s also aware that the popular cinema version of Nosferatu has informed the average person of his kind.)
He slouched down into his trench coat but was startled by a noise. Reaching quietly inside the coat for his gun, he patted it, then snapped the brim of his fedora down over his brow. It was only the tired-looking Pullman porter, now off shift and walking the rails after he had gone around the back to relieve himself.
“No one coming for you, sir?” The porter kept more than an arm’s length away from him. He stood below the platform so it would not seem as if he meant to approach or crowd a white man.
Knowing his place, I guess. Markus mused. And I’m sure back in Mississippi, alright. This old fellow’s had a stick taken to him regularly. Shy of white folks. This hunger, though – If I was a savage I could take him, but I need his help – I need to get to the house and find some relief.
“Guess not.” Markus answered, “Need to use a telephone if there’s one to be had and maybe get a car here for my things.” He didn’t sit up, concerned with what he might look like. Most of the time he looked well put together, but it had been two full days without his medication added to his anxiety over Pappy’s death and what he would discover about it. He knew he was likely pale and his eyes were sunken. They would have a reddish glimmer owing more to the aura of hunger than their being bloodshot. When he sucked in the starting drool, he knew his teeth were sharpening and lengthening. If someone had the misfortune of touching him at this point, they would find his skin cold and clammy. He was becoming the image of a “vampyr” the way motion pictures showed his race: pale and undead, yet rabid monsters.
Can’t let anyone see me. Especially since the horror show Nosferatu came out. Markus hid into his coat. Scare an old man to death. We’re not such predators anymore – not for centuries. Pappy said it never was as bad as the legends said even when all men were beasts.
He knew if he didn’t get sustenance soon, he would have to resort to his animal nature and run into the woods or even more dangerously, into a farmyard to hunt something warm-blooded.
So what will he do? Why not order your copy of “A Man in the Dark” at launch day prices to find out.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G2KDZVN5
And now let me present my weekly guest: Linda Watkins.
I just wanted to say I’ll take advantage of this special myself. I’ve already read her two Steve Daniels stories but while I wait for the third and for time to read “Cesspool of Spies” I think I’ll pick up Kate Pomeroy.
USA Today Bestselling Author, Linda Watkins, currently resides in Sedona, Arizona with her two rescue dogs, Chomps and Chelsea. She is in the midst of working on her fifteenth novel, the sixth (and maybe the final chapter) in the award-winning Kate Pomeroy Gothic Mystery Series. She is also the author of the award-winning Mateguas Island Series and the Steve Daniels’ Mystery Series.
The Award-Winning Kate Pomeroy Gothic Mystery Series Sale!
December 3-5, 2025
Get your copies now! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0828X3VQ1
BOOK I: Storm Island, A Kate Pomeroy Mystery – FREE
2019 Silver Medalist in Fiction-Suspense, Readers Favorite International Book Awards!
2018 Winner, First Place Award, Chanticleer International Book Awards (PARANORMAL AWARDS)!
“...Watkins artfully captures the distinction between reality and fantasy. Indeed, her depictions of Kate’s hallucinations are terrifying, and it’s often deliciously unclear whether the protagonist is experiencing a mental mirage or a clearheaded epiphany. The author builds the suspense in a cautious manner, meting out just enough information to keep the tale moving forward, but not so much as to lessen the gripping drama of the story ....An engrossing and suspenseful mystery.” ~Kirkus Reviews
BOOK II: THE TAO OF THE VIPER, A Kate Pomeroy Mystery - Only #99cents!!!
Readers Favorite 2020 Gold Medal Winner in Supernatural Fiction!!
2020 Winner In Mystery Fiction, Book Excellence Awards!!
“This book captures the reader from page one and holds them enthralled until the end! The suspense, action and danger are well written and make the reader feel they are part of the world the author has created...The plot is engaging, and pacing of the book is spot on, making the reader want to keep turning the pages. The characters are well-written and believable...The ending is satisfying and leaves the reader craving more of Kate, her story, and the consequences faced by some of the more notable secondary characters.”~Carly Fulmer for InD’tale Magazine (5-Star, Crowned Heart, Review)
BOOK III: ABDUCTED, A Kate Pomeroy Mystery – Only #99cents!!!
“This was an exceptional read; one that will not only keep you flipping pages into the night, but will haunt your dreams as well. A magnificent episode in this superb series. Highly recommended!”~Amazon 5-Star Review
“Linda Watkins delves even deeper into the darkness with Abducted, the third installment of the Kate Pomeroy Mystery Series. The previous books are standouts in the modern mystery genre, and this psychological race against time may prove to be Watkins best yet...The tone of the writing is consistently gritty and evocative, and Kate Pomeroy once again proves herself to be a worthy heroine at the heart of this exciting series.”~Self-Publishing Review
Hey Readers! Thanks for reading this week’s spotlight.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mary-R.-Woldering/author/B00OND7QMU
Here’s my own list of books
Children of Stone Series - Historical Fantasy set in Pyramid Builder Egypt (4th and 5th Dynasties) Magic, gods, kings, shape-shifting priests, immortals, demons and many things not of this world in a fight to save mankind from corruption!
Bk 1 Voices in Crystal
Bk 2 Going Forth By Day
Bk 3 Opener of the Sky
Bk 4 Heart of the Lotus
Bk 5 The Lake of Memory
And 10 short stories and novellas in contemporary or almost contemporary settings.
“Ana’s Dream of Flying” A young girl’s spiritual awakening through her art. (There’s a dragon)
“Raemkai’s Stairs” A tango between three ghosts in a haunted house
“The Changeling Princess” A retold Snow White story
“The Green Cabinet Door” about portals and Roman Guardians
“Night Route” A spooky tale of a bus driver’s new job
“Miss Hattie and the Hoppers” A gaslamp/time travel romp
“The Figment” A contemporary paranormal romance
“The Caretaker”A sapphic dark fantasy of love beyond death
I have one.
“The Secret Grove” A woman recalls how she fell for a fae prince at summer camp. Turns out her heartthrob was much more than meets the eye. A romp with the god of party and healing of childhood wounds
“The Mouse of Ethan Getz”A Monkey’s Paw type lesson
October 31 “Memorati”
A woman’s discovery of a terrifying history
in 2025 Ghostly Rites Anthology. https://books2read.com/u/4XJANg
PRE ORDER IT TODAY for $.99 until launch day December 21, 2025
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G2KDZVN5
Watch for the edgy, mysterious story of love, lust, racism, revenge, family honor the deep south, the Great Depression – vampires and Nazis with a noir edge in “A Man in the Dark” Many more to come – INCLUDING More Timeless Stories in 2026
More on all these later. Be sure to check the box and share these posts.
Thanks in advance!
