The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - Dennis Wheatley’s Writing Technique

People and Places

Mervyn Baron's / the dedication copy of 'The Devil Rides Out'

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DW's suitcase from the 1930s with its many travel stickers

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People

As DW wrote in his autobiography, most of the characters in his novels came simply from his imagination. But some did not.

Among those that appear to have been based on real people are:

In addition, several of DW's wartime colleagues and his stepdaughter Diana made cameo appearances - some under their own names - in his 1958 Gregory Sallust novel 'Traitors' Gate'.

DW added that he would have liked to have been the Duke de Richleau, but while the ideas the Duke expressed were frequently his own, he (DW) lacked his nobility of character.

Roger Brook was his favourite character, and had DW had lived in that age, he would have liked to have been Roger, but would have lacked his courage (perhaps not, as DW was a soldier and saw action in Wold War One - CB). DW said he also had 'a very soft spot' for Sir Pellinore Gwaine-Cust.

Places

Whether he did his research remotely from books, or whether he had been to places in person, DW was always good at writing convincing descriptions.

DW had never been to Russia when he wrote his debut novel 'The Forbidden Territory', but so convincing was it that several of the journalists who interviewed him about it when it was launched simply assumed that he had.

Later on, when he had the money, DW used to like to travel - and as another part of the Museum describes, he travelled extensively - and he used the material garnered in his travels to add further colour and verisimilitude to his books.

And as will be seen under 'Research', he prided himself on getting every detail right.