Goodreads asked Anne Bellegia:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Anne Bellegia Touched by Fatality began with a shiny floor in a public restroom. The reflected image of a woman in an adjacent stall was remarkably detailed, prompting the thought, what if she were doing something criminal?

It struck me that we all create stories from what we observe, and often the stories we tell ourselves are fiction, not the truth. Our imaginations embellish the behaviors of others with assumptions about their motivations. We can never really know, but that doesn’t stop us from incorporating our beliefs into our perceptions of reality.

Characters, actions and possible motivations grew out of that shiny floor into a narrative titled Rub Out. It was a murder mystery, a genre with which I’m unfamiliar, and it showed. My characters lobbied for more complexity and an exploration of deeper themes such as loss and grief, aging, dying, and mental health.

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