Killer Nashville Interview with August Norman

1. This is the second novel that follows heroine Caitlin Bergman. How soon into crafting the first book did you know her story would continue?

Even before Caitlin made her debut in Come and Get Me, I’d worked the character into a screenplay and another novel. As an investigative journalist, Caitlin gets to explore the issues I care about, whether that’s battling white supremacists, breaking up a cult, or dating in her 40s. The journalists I know work hard in dangerous places to bring the world basic facts, often for little pay and less respect. Like them, Caitlin is obsessed with getting the true story behind the legends, even at the expense of her own safety. 

2. What are some of the challenges you faced with writing the second book in a series? Were there things that came easier throughout the process?

One wonderful challenge I faced writing “Sins of the Mother” was honoring the expectations of the first book’s readers. With a debut, you get to say, “Here are my characters; this is what they do.” While plotting the second installment, readers from my publishing team to Goodreads followers wanted to know who would come back, how Caitlin would grow, and what horrible junk food she’d eat this time. I made sure to honor that relationship with the reader while taking Caitlin in a new direction.

3. Most of the book is set in Oregon. What drew you to choosing the setting in the Pacific Northwest?

To tell this story, I needed somewhere in America that you could hide a cult within miles of the broader society. I also wanted a setting where the locals feared the end of their traditions because of a liberal shift in ideals, and would be willing to fight to ensure their ways of life. Oregon’s lush forests, rocky coasts, inland plains, tribal lands, federal preserve, and wild-country-feel all bash heads daily with the new Bohemia tech sector billionaire playgrounds of Portland, Silicon Valley, and Seattle. Caitlin is searching for her past in a state that’s dealing with its own growing pains. In “Sins of the Mother,” the area’s small government “Don’t Tread On Me” mentality allows white supremacists to flourish in the same proximity as a reclusive cult. It’s only a matter of time before the two fight for their ideals, no matter the cost. 

4. You recently became a father, and the book definitely focuses on parental themes. Was that coincidental? And are there things you learned about parenthood from writing a book centering so much on that theme?

In the lead-up to my entrance into parentage, I did a lot of soul-searching on what I believe makes a good parent and what constitutes family. Whether related by blood, chosen through adoption, or selected from a pool of friends, I think the closest families are born through love and sacrifice, rather than biology. As unnatural as it may seem, sometimes the best thing a parent can do is realize they don’t have the skills to guide their children through life and leave them with someone more qualified. Having never met her birth mother, raised by a single adoptive father, and now childless in her early forties, Caitlin explores her own family’s tree, ultimately seeing another side of her perceived abandonment and the sacrifices and openness needed to truly love.

5. You have a background in screenwriting. How has that experience helped you with writing novels? Or has it made things more difficult?

Coming up through screenwriting, I hope I can claim a few skills that help me as a novelist. I gravitate toward short, cinematic scenes in my chapters, understanding that readers fill in much of the setting with their own shorthand. I also try to create characters that actors from well-known stars to five-lines-and-under would line up to audition for. Who wouldn’t want to play an aging cult leader, past his prime and looking for a way out? A devout, female lawyer that represents a cult in greater society but becomes her true self in the privacy of their woodland compound? A violent white supremacist hell-bent on saving his daughter from those people? Finally, many authors come to their work with a my-way-or-the-highway sensibility that can leave them stuck when their publishers ask for edits or complete page one rewrites of art that took them years to complete. Screenwriters, subject to deadlines and notes from all levels, have to be able to move fast and adapt, while keeping their original concepts intact. So far, these skills have all helped bring Caitlin Bergman to the page.

6. Your lead character, Caitlin, is definitely a strong female protagonist. Did you face any challenges writing a female character? 

As a straight white male, no one needs me to explain a damned thing about being a strong modern woman — and I keep that in mind with every sentence I type. Caitlin Bergman began as a minor character in an early screenplay but quickly became the lead I wanted to see challenge the injustices of the world. Rather than try to create a strong female protagonist, I wrote Caitlin as the ideal acting role for one of my best friends. Fierce but flawed, strong but not a superhero, sexual but not necessarily sexy, and smarter than anyone I knew, Caitlin is the combination of four women and one man from my life, and someone I would love to hang out with — if she’d deem me worthy. That said, I rely heavily on beta readers to make sure her words and actions ring true. Since my first title, “Come and Get Me,” touched upon the terrible trauma of sexual assault, I asked 20 readers to evaluate the work before it reached my agent’s hands. Of those 20 readers, 15 were women. Of those 15, at least 2 were in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, as well as people of other ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations. With justifiable historical and societal reasons, I’ll never satisfy everyone, but I do everything possible to make Caitlin and her friends behave like real people I know and love. 

7. No spoilers, but the book’s plot centers around the fictional Daughters of God cult. What research goes into trying to craft a cult from scratch?

Cults fascinate me — not just the religious ones but any occasion where a group of people choose to believe in something that can either be demonstrably proven false (cough, cough … flat earthers) or where the association requires self-injury, legal compromise or financial ruin. When building my own group, I wanted to concentrate on the people who would stick around, even after their prophesied end of the world had come and gone. To really get into their mentality, I first consulted my own personal therapist, then dove deep into articles, books and documentaries about these hidden societies, many of which found their own starts in my background of Southern California. Sadly, most of us are susceptible to this kind of belief, and far too many have lost their families, fortunes and lives under the leadership of demagogues. 

Killer Nashville Interview with J. A. Konrath

Killer Nashville recently had a chat with author J.A. Konrath regarding his prolific—and eclectic—writing career. A pioneer of the self-publishing model, Konrath has sold over 2 million books worldwide. His latest novel, The List, will be available in trade paperback May 2018. Konrath is a 2018 Killer Nashville Guest of Honor and will be participating in several conference sessions.

Take a moment and enjoy the wit and wisdom of J.A. Konrath.

Clay Stafford

Founder of Killer Nashville 

An Interview with J.A. Konrath
by Liz Gatterer

KN: I read on your website that you received over 500 rejection letters before getting published. How did you handle that and what advice do you have to new authors that are experiencing the same thing?

Joe: I drank. And I recommend that to all authors, new and old.

These days, I don’t advise authors to spend years chasing agents and publishers. A saner approach is to self-publish. As you build an audience, agents and publishers will no doubt find you.

Remember, the end goal is to find readers. Those are the people you need to be chasing. You can do that with good stories. Or with promises of cash. What reader would turn down piles of cash?

Are you giving out piles of cash at this conference? Is Deaver? Is that why he always has people around him?

KN: You are a most prolific and varied author, but you really resonate with whichever audience you are writing for. I read The Globs of Use-A-Lot3 to my six-year-old. He almost peed the bed laughing so hard! But, he got the message. He is now quite tyrannical about recycling in our house and he is most proud of his gaseous eruptions-thanks for that. You write in so many categories and genres–horror, mystery, comedy, instructional, … (blushing slightly) other genres, and even children’s books! How do you switch hats so easily?

Joe: Thanks for the kind words. I’m lucky to be interested in many genres and find all of them fun to write for. Hopefully the fun I’m having translates to the reader.

If you don’t find my books fun, that’s entirely my fault. I apologize. I’ll try harder next time. Would you like a pile of cash?

Besides the children’s picture book, I’ve also published other odd things. Like adult coloring books (The Ultimate Adult Coloring Book of Circles—which is 100 pages of circles), the Stop A Murder series (where you solve puzzles to catch a serial killer, unlocking clues, more story, and videos are you progress), eco-punk science fiction (Timecaster), and very funny erotica (Want It Bad).

And, of course, The List is now available as a mass market paperback, and I haven’t had any mass market paperbacks in years. It’s a technothriller with memorable characters and a lot of fun moments. Everyone should buy two copies; one for personal use, and one for their mother.

KN: You are a full-time writer and full-time professor with a full-time family. That’s a lot of time! How do you balance it all?

Joe: I’m actually five people. Which is expensive when buying shoes.

Were you the one who brought up drinking and money? Because that seems like a good idea. Maybe we can combine the two. Having a beer, while sitting on a pile of cash. Also, people dance for our amusement.

That would be the life, wouldn’t it?

What was the question again?

Oh, balance. I quit teaching, and my kids are grown, so now I just write. It’s a great job, and I highly recommend it.

KN: Throughout all of your stories, comedy plays a big part. Even the scary novels have their funny bits. But writing is serious work. How do you keep your sense of humor through all of it?

Joe: Reading is like giving your limbic system a work-out. It allows us to vicariously experience all emotions; fear, sorrow, joy, excitement, and laughter. Laughter is my favorite. So even when I write dark stuff, I try to find room for humor. It makes things more fun.

Hmm. I just re-read the above paragraph, and that wasn’t fun at all. Maybe I should add some emojis.

Laughter is my favorite. 😊 Even when I write dark stuff. ☹

Does that make it more fun? If not, you should have a beer.

KN: You are a big proponent of self-publishing and self-promotion. Aside from suggesting that they read your book A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, is there one thing you think all new authors need to know?

Joe: Don’t write crap.

No reader wants to waste her time with bad books, so do her a favor and don’t write any.

It is difficult for writers to judge the merit of their own writing, even if they’ve written a few dozen novels. We all need some sort of objective feedback. Let your family, friends, peers, editors, and beta readers tell you what isn’t working because then you can fix it. Things are much harder to salvage if you publish something sub-par and get a bunch of well-deserved 1-star reviews. Don’t ever publish anything before it’s the very best you can make it.

You have one goal; make the reader happy. Don’t blow it.

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Many thanks to J.A. Konrath for so graciously taking time to answer our questions and to Vida Enstrand and Lauren Vassallo from Kensington Publishing for facilitating this interview.

An Interview with Novelist Roy Freirich

An Interview with Novelist Roy Freirich

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Imagining the End of Sleep

Have you ever worried about being unable to fall asleep?
I have, and the worry itself began to keep me awake, in a kind of meta, vicious cycle.  

But, why?  What’s so great about sleep?
It’s a question I used to ask, before I knew better. 

I’ve led multiple lives as a writer, and each one gave me the same answer. In recording studios mixing songs, or in my office writing sentences of novels and drafts of screenplays, the longer I worked, the better the results.  Until… diminishing returns set in, and song mixes were merely different and no better than one another, sentences were overbaked, script scenes over-complicated and finicky — all as the work hours intruded on normal sleep hours.  The jury is in: deprivation results in diminished capacity in any area of endeavor. In my case, the stakes are admittedly low—if I write a weak line of song lyric, or a cheesy scene in a movie, we all live to tell. But if I were a surgeon, an airline pilot, a truck driver, a crane operator….?

When did it really hit home for you?
I had a real wake-up about the need for sleep, when I “came to” making a left through a red light across three lanes of oncoming traffic.  Those horns were loud. And that was something called a micro-sleep, from missing just three hours of sleep the night before.

I looked into it, and found that neuroscientists, sleep specialists, and psychologists everywhere understand and agree: Deprivation results in measureable body chemistry changes, which in turn degrade our physical and mental capabilities, and eventually our long-term health.  The science is complex, but beyond dispute.

There will be impairments to motor control, cognition, memory, judgement, and emotional stability.

But aside from the proven science, what does sleep mean to you personally?
For me, sleep is profoundly about a truly vital, beautiful, longing — for escape.

From three things: effort, consequence, and the past.

Most of us, most of the time, are variously trying, are attempting, something.  There’s effort at work, of course, and the ever-present to-do list for home and family, and even effort during time-outs for ourselves, ironically, when we’re following the tricky plot of Westworld, or just trying to fill in that crossword blank, or just trying to relax.  Sleep, when we get there, is finally a true respite from trying, which is lovely to contemplate, and even lovelier to experience deeply and often.

The second escape, from consequence, isn’t so bad either. For the one third of our lives we sleep (or should be asleep), we’re not responsible for what happens in the other two thirds. It’s not our fault! How wonderful to say that and have it be true! 

But escape from consequence has an even deeper benefit for all of us.  It’s escape from the self-editing process. It’s been called RISE, or regression in the service of the ego. In semi-waking states and in dreams, our minds are free to experiment without fear of outcomes. I no longer worry about what will happen to the end of my story if I change this scene, or try this line of lyric instead of the one I’ve settled on.  We let the new idea come and don’t sweat the consequences. I don’t see it as “channeling” or anything quite as grand or special, but as just getting out of our own way.

The third escape, and the one that became a central conceit and drove the drama of the novel:  escape from the past.

Here’s how: in dreams, we defuse the emotions connected to unresolved experiences in our lives.  We’ve all had these moments, from any sort of unfulfilled wishes, desires for a “do-over,” from small regrets to more serious trauma from violence, catastrophe, death.  In dreams, we replay versions of these, variously disguised or symbolized, more safely.

How did that become a novel?
As a novelist (and habitual worrier), this brought me a question: What if we couldn’t dream, because we couldn’t sleep?  How many nights of without dreaming would it take to for the unconscious to find other ways to surface, even in our waking lives?

The novel and the research behind it suggest that after four or five nights we lose the emotional stability that dreams maintain, and our unique preoccupations, desires, misconceptions, and fears could spiral into obsessions, urges, delusions and paranoia. 

So it’s not just about slurred speech and stumbling and impaired judgment, but we’ll each go crazy in our own special way. 

How does that novel dramatize that idea?
In my speculative writer’s mind, I wondered, what if were nine or ten nights without sleep, multiplied by the population of an entire town with no way out? If it sounds dire, it is.

It all begins innocently enough, mid-summer at an idyllic tourist destination like Martha’s Vineyard or Fire Island, with locals complaining about tourists, and tourists complaining about locals, and the heat, the bugs, their mattresses, or the neighbors’ music or outdoor lights.  

After a few days, there’s a run on bug spray, eyemasks, earplugs, Ambien. The sleep-deprived Chief of Police loses control as tempers flare, bar fights erupt, domestic spats turn into abuse. A lonely teenage girl joins a dangerous contest going viral: who can Tweet every fifteen minutes for the most hours?  A few tourists die from (accidental?) sleeping pill overdose, missing persons are reported, boating accidents claim lives, drownings. The desperate, sleepless urgent care doctor starts prescribing a few sleeping pills apiece—but how many does the little mom ‘n’ pop pharmacy have?

Local authorities aren’t immune from impaired judgement and delusions, either, and they cut the island off out of fear the insomnia will spread to the mainland.

 Denied the outlet of dreams, the unconscious finds other, primal ways to surface. Violence flares as a mob decides who to blame, and rioting erupts. 

Will help arrive before the worst happens? 

Desperate for unconsciousness, suicide is finally the only respite for some, as others set the island ablaze, howling in fury and fear.

Anarchy, mayhem, chaos.

The short story?  Dreams keep us sane, and sanity keeps the peace.

Killer Nashville Interview with Dean Koontz

An Interview with Dean Koontz

Killer Nashville sits down with Dean Koontz to discuss his writing process.

KN: You have created some of the best bad-guys: Edgler Vess, Junior Kane, Ticktock, and, Lee Shacket - these are characters that still haunt me.  How do you do it?  How do you build the perfect bad-guy?

DK: Maybe I am one. If I were, I might not know, because really bad guys are superb at self-justification. I’m sure the Cookie Monster thinks of himself as the Cookie Connoisseur, and the Hamburglar believes he’s just redistributing sandwiches in the interest of culinary justice.

Anyway, ordinary criminals are of little interest to me. I’m more intrigued by sociopaths who lack any normal human feelings but convincingly imitate them. Sociopaths exist in every race, every age group, and every economic class; more are men, but there are women among them as well. Scary stories like INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS or John Carpenter’s version of THE THING, in which evil extraterrestrials hide among us in human form, put the hair up on the back of my neck, but human sociopaths are in fact real and therefore far scarier. They are an immensely destructive force in society because not all of them become serial killers like Ted Bundy or predatory Hollywood moguls; others rise to positions of authority in government, business, churches, the arts, everywhere. They’re just a slice of humanity, but they are often so charismatic that they can lead numerous others into darkness.

The difficult challenge is to imagine how such a person thinks. They’re narcissistic almost to the extent of being solipsists, creatures of unrestrained desires, driven not by greed or hatred, but by a lust for absolute power over others, by arrogance and contempt, and by the particular kind of envy that is covetousness. This kind of character is capable of anything other than humility.

At the same time, choosing evil is a choice of fools, because though evil can win in the short term, it never wins in the long term. And because I never want to glamorize evil, I use that foolishness to make my antagonists objects of dark amusement, though they never realize that they’re unintentionally funny.

I think the scariest elements of your stories are those that are rooted in truth.  The nanobots from the Jane Hawk series or the microscopic archæa from your upcoming release, Devoted, for example.  How do you develop truly terrifying purposes from the seemingly benign?

I read a lot of science and technology, not with an eye for story ideas, just out of a general interest in everything from quantum mechanics to molecular biology. My head is a stew pot——or maybe a witch’s cauldron——in which everything cooks 24/7 until some irresistible story idea rises to the top. Whereas a lot of people are charmed by new technology or exciting theories of new social structures, I tend to see the dark side almost at a glace. Elon Musk said, “Creating a neural [brain] lace is the thing that really matters for humanity to achieve symbiosis with machines.” When I heard that, I immediately thought, “Yeah, well if you do that and achieve symbiosis with computers, then your brain can be hacked, and you can be controlled.” And so the Jane Hawk series was born. It’s strange, really, that I see the dark possibilities so easily and quickly, considering that I’m the biggest optimist I know.

KN: For over 50 years you have published multiple books every year.  I thought I had read them all, but after checking your webpage I see I have some catching up to do! How do you sustain such a pace?

DK: How do I sustain that pace? A passion for storytelling, a profound love for the beauty and potential of the English language, and a need to eat well. Besides, having grown up in poverty and on the bottom rung of the social ladder in every way, I was somewhat surprised to discover this talent and amazed that it opened a world of possibilities for me. Talent is a grace; I did nothing to earn it, therefore I feel obliged to explore it and grow it, work on the craft and art, until one day I fall dead into the keyboard. It’s hard work, but it’s also joyful, and it gives my life purpose that, as a child and adolescent, I never expected to find.

KN: There are certain elements I have come to expect from a Dean Koontz novel.  It will be scary; I will have to stop reading at least once to catch my breath; there will be at least one scene that breaks my heart – and there will be an awesome dog.  I know where the dog inspiration comes from – you have been blessed to have so many special dogs in your life.  But what about the terrifying parts and the tragic parts?  Where does that inspiration come from?

DK:I write suspenseful fiction because suspense is arguably the fundamental quality of our lives. Suspense and an irresistible urge to search for cute kitten photos on the internet. I also include comedy in my work, because it’s how we deal with stress and terror and the realization that we’re baton twirlers in a parade of fools. Suspense. . . Well, we never know what’s going to happen to us tomorrow, later today, a minute from now. The best literary novels are also suspense novels woven through with quiet humor.

As far back as I can remember, I feared my own death a lot less than I feared the deaths of those I love. Tragic events are significant threads in the fabric of life; losing someone you love inevitably inspires a terror of eventually being alone in a world that can be hostile in the extreme. Young writers are always counseled to write what they know, and too many of them interpret this to mean they should write navel-gazing novels about the tedium of youthful desire. However, what they know, what we all know, is that the world is strange, the universe is a mystery, evil is real, love is our only hope, and we all die——which is pretty much all the material you need for an infinite number of novels.

KN: Series versus stand-alone books:  Which do you prefer writing?  Do you plan for a series or does the potential develop as you write? Will Devoted become a series?

DK: I prefer standalones. But sometimes a character seizes your imagination and won’t let go. Odd Thomas and Jane Hawk became as real to me as the people next door——though I’ve never known a neighbor as amusing as Odd or as kick-ass as Jane——and I just had to know more about them. I could never write 20 or 30 novels with the same character. Once I know everything about them, once they have allowed me to peel back the last layer of their hearts and minds, staying with them for more books would be all about finances, not art.

Many thanks to Dean Koontz for answering our quetsions and to Beth Parker for co-ordinating this effort.

Killer Nashville Interview with Harriet Tyce

An Interview with Harriet Tyce

Killer Nashville sits down with debut author Harriet Tyce to discuss her new book, Blood Orange.

KN: I believe that it is quite an accomplishment for a debut author to be published by Grand Central.  You are a very talented writer.  

Blood Orange

 is a novel that grabbed me from the prologue and didn’t let go – even after the ending so I completely see why such a prestigious publishing house would want it for their catalog.  But, HOW did you get there?  Here at Killer Nashville we work with new authors and that is always the question – how did she do it?  How did you get your work in front of the right people?

TYCE: Thank you very much! That’s very kind of you to say so and I’m glad it grabbed your attention. I studied for a Masters in Creative Writing – Crime Fiction at the University of East Anglia and through that was able to get the opening of my novel in front of the agents at David Higham Agency when I applied for a scholarship. I didn’t win the scholarship, but I was contacted by Veronique Baxter, one of their agents, some weeks later. She’d liked what she read, and suggested we meet, and after that meeting, offered me representation. This gave me a huge boost to finish the manuscript, and when it was finally done, Veronique submitted it to a number of publishers in the UK. It caught the attention of my UK editor Kate Stephenson, at Wildfire, which is an imprint of Headline, a Hachette publisher. She made a pre-emptive offer for world rights, which I was delighted to receive, and through this Blood Orange is being published jointly by Wildfire and by Grand Central, another Hachette publisher. I’ve been extremely lucky.

KN: “Show-don’t-tell” is a bit of advice that we give our authors.  You excel at this skill.  For example, when Alison managed to stick her hand in “it” outside the nightclub and her inebriated mind thought she could wash off that stink before anyone noticed – I thought that pretty much summed up Alison’s situation better than pages of detailed descriptions ever could. Contaminated by her actions and distractions she really hopes that no one will notice how bad things are until she can clean up the mess. But really she is going to leave a little bit of filth on everyone and everything she touches for quite a while.  This is a two-part question:  How do you do that? And – what was your inspiration? LOL.  On second thought, maybe I don’t want to know the answer to that part…

TYCE: I prefer to read prose which is terse and leaves something to the imagination, and that’s what I try to write. As with every student of creative writing, I started out reading the stories of Raymond Carver, and comparing the Lish edits with the stories as Carver originally wrote, I feel that less is always more. One gesture will convey more than pages of description. At least that’s what I try to do – I’m glad you think I succeeded with it. As far as that scene was concerned, I had in my mind Lady Macbeth trying to scrub off the blood spot, and the dogs refusing to eat the palms of Jezebel’s hands. And when I was a child, I used to go for walks in Edinburgh with my parents, and we would walk under a large bridge on which someone had daubed graffiti with dog fæces.

KN: I am the mother of a 6-year-old, so the scene where young Tilly is missing really spoke to me.  My heart was pounding out of my chest and I almost couldn’t read fast enough to find out what happened.  But that was also the scene where I began to really feel for Alison.  Up until then, I was pretty much in the “yes, you are a terrible mother” camp.  But there she was being a “good” mother playing with her daughter and it still all falls apart.  She wasn’t concentrating on something else, she wasn’t lost on her phone or talking to someone.  This was a situation that could happen to me… easily.  What was your process for developing this scene?

TYCE: I have children myself and while neither of them has ever gone missing for any period of time, even thirty seconds can feel like a lifetime. I walk on the Heath regularly, and watch my children climb the tree I’ve described, and I’ve seen police cars occasionally on patrol, and it came to me organically as a scene. I knew it was a point in the book where a catalyst was necessary to bring the hostility between Carl and Alison entirely to the surface, and given how critical he is throughout of her parenting, it seemed logical to me that he would be bound to blame her entirely for this scare, even though as you point out, it’s something that could have happened to anyone. I actually don’t think Alison is ever a terrible mother – even the night that she doesn’t come home doesn’t put Matilda at any risk, and she always does her best. It’s just not always very good…

KN: Obviously, you are an experienced criminal barrister, so it makes sense that those parts of the story were so believable.  But what about the other parts?  How do you go about researching the gruesome details? And do you ever worry what someone might say if they saw the search history on your computer?

TYCE: I think that’s an occupational hazard! My next book will be dealing with divorce, amongst other things, and I’ve had to tell my husband up front that all of my searches about family law and custody battles are for book purposes and not because I’m planning an escape route. It took quite a lot of logistical planning to work out the final scene in Blood Orange, for which I had to do a lot of internet searches that threw up some sites I really would never want to visit. And it’s fair to say I’ve had my share of hangovers, so those parts weren’t too hard to write…

KN: Finally, even though it is perfectly acceptable and usually expected for women to have careers and families, we torture ourselves with guilt when we aren’t always present for

them.  We tend to see other women as having it all together and judging us for being unworthy somehow (whether or not that’s true.)   So, I really liked the way that you included the “forgiving mom” – the one that said that she turned off the notifications in WhatsApp and seemed genuinely friendly to Alison.  What was your inspiration for this?  

TYCE: The UK agent Juliet Mushens made an excellent point some time ago which was that no domestic thrillers would work as real-life situations if the female protagonists had girlfriends. Alison has isolated herself from her friends, and she is paranoid that all of the mothers at school are judging her adversely, but actually, she’s her own harshest critic, so eaten up with guilt that she can’t see what is really happening around her. I felt that it was more realistic to have people being friendly around her – even though she thinks she’s a terrible person, she’s not that bad, and they can see that. I also wanted to make sure she has a potential future after the end of the book – if she can actually get through all the awfulness, there’s a great circle of women out there ready to catch her and give her support moving forward.

Killer Nashville Interview with Sara Blaedel

An Interview with Sara Blaedel

Killer Nashville sits down with best-selling author Sara Blaedel to discuss her latest book, THE DROWNED GIRL.

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KN: Is it more difficult to create a new main character or build upon a character that is well known by your readers?

For me, whether introducing a new character or digging into the evolution of an already existing one, it all falls under the same umbrella.  And, I love to engage in both.  I’m especially excited about character development; it’s always the people who get under the reader’s skin and drive the action, don’t you think?  It is the characters we think about long after we’ve finished reading, who we connect and relate to, and whom we look forward to getting back to in a series.  While it takes a lot of time to construct a new character, making sure they possess layers and flaws and strengths and authentic characteristics, having a character evolve and grow according to their experiences and maturity, as we all do in one way or another, also takes a great deal of focus and commitment to getting it right.

KN: Is Camilla based upon your own experiences and/or observations as a journalist?

While I wouldn’t say any of my characters is based on me or meant to be a stand-in for me, I definitely use what I know, when appropriate, in the building of a character’s life and work.  In this case, absolutely; I was a journalist for years and tapped into that part of my life to support Camilla’s profession, how she approaches her work, and that whole world.  It’s super-fun!

KN: I love the growth in Camilla’s character when she became more of the solution to racism instead of perpetrating stereotypes. Was this based upon something you have experienced on one side or the other?

Again, I come at this in a sort of hybrid fashion, a mix of the real and personally experienced and what I perceive would be the genuine experience of my characters.  I spent a great deal of time developing them from the start- no single figure in any of my books shows up without a history and backstory of their own that I’ve worked on, along with a construction of them from the ground up and inside out.  It is essential, for me, that my characters’ personalities and choices reflect what they’ve been through so far, whom they meet and have relationships with along the way, and what they witness in the world around them.

KN: Was it difficult to publish The Drowned Girl in a different language than it was originally written? What were some of the pitfalls? Why was the original title changed?

This is an excellent question!  For an author, and I am sure I speak for many (if not most) here, any adaptation is always a scary thing.  There is a great deal of reliance and trust required of the translator, who must organically capture the nuances of the plotting, characterizations, description, and timing.  I am always super-obsessed with making sure that happens, and I have a person who carefully studies each one of my translated books to make sure that nothing has been missed or misinterpreted.  It’s amazing how getting one word or phrase even just a little bit off-base can change the tone or direction of storytelling.  The changing of titles is most often left to the publisher of the translation as frequently the original title doesn’t completely work in that specific language.  It is important for storytellers to protect the integrity of their work and their visions, while at the same time trusting the publishers and people they work with, who want to do everything to support the book and make it accessible to their marketplace.  I always try to find that balance between staying very involved and allowing some space to let the experts do their thing.

KN: I felt the setting in a small town where some might not be as willing to accept outsiders made it perfect by creating the tension needed. Racism is a tough topic to conquer, what type of research did you do to bring it to the readers so realistically?

Research plays a massive role in my preparation for writing.  It is a part of the author’s job that I truly love and look forward to.  Of course, this goes back to my days as a journalist, wherein research and accuracy are imperative.  I go deeply, mining into nearly every aspect I write about, from the locations (I go to the sites where my action takes place, and breathe that air and study the people, the geography, the very essence) to the professions (authenticity is crucial), to the history and natives, and everything in between.

I have always been fascinated by the differences between small towns and big cities; I’ve personally lived in both.  I’m intrigued by the familiarity of life in smaller, more contained, more traditional, and more slowly-changing towns, where, typically, everyone knows everyone else, and there is very little anonymity and lots of secrets simmering beneath the surface.  Which means, treasure troves of potential tension and suspense and drama.  A playground for a crime fiction author!!

Killer Nashville Interview with David Baldacci

An Interview with David Baldacci

In this Killer Nashville interview, award-winning author David Baldacci gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how he makes his characters and locations come to life and highlights the differences in writing a stand-alone novel versus a series.

How is the plotting different for a stand-alone novel and the first novel in a series?

With a stand-alone you know you have one shot to get it all out there. With a series, you can hold things back and wait until the time is right in another book. You can build character arcs more methodically. I like to drop little nuggets or Easter eggs in series books that I know will not be resolved in that novel, much as I did in Long Road to Mercy.

Did you plan to write a series or did Atlee Pine develop into someone who needed to tell more about herself after you began writing?

I planned all along to bring Pine back, and thus built her character correspondingly in the novel.

I love the growth of Carol Blum. Much like anyone we know casually, she seemed ordinary until the reader gets to know her. How and why did she become such an important character? 

I was unsure of what Carol’s full role would be when I started, whether a help or hindrance, loyal sidekick or bureaucratic foil to Pine.  But I quickly decided she would be a full-bore character, loyal but independent. Quirky but resourceful. I really liked the idea of an older and younger woman partnering together and supporting the other. You almost never see that, at least in thrillers.

Is it more difficult to create a woman protagonist that is tough, yet shows us glimpses of her feminine side than a male? In general is it easy to get into the character’s head if they are male?

Both genders have sets of challenges. With men, the temptation is to write them as strong but vulnerable and in times of action, indomitable. And that can get sort of formulaic so you have to watch that. But there are so many male characters portrayed that way it doesn’t seem to matter to readers or moviegoers, which I’m not sure is a good thing. I’m obviously not a woman, so writing from another gender’s perspective is challenging. Writing a woman as strong but feminine sounds like a safe compromise, but it can also throw you into cliché land. What I tried my best to do was be true to Pine’s character and not really dwell on the labels readers might throw on her. She is strong and capable and at times bossy or overbearing, but so can we all be, men and women, depending on the situation.  She can be aloof, suspicious of people’s intentions. But then again, so can all of us. I guess I just tried to make her human, with all the advantages and disadvantages that come with that.

The setting of the Grand Canyon intrigued me. The facts about the location as well as the descriptions pull the readers into the scene. How did you choose the setting? Did you travel into the Canyon? Speak with locals?

I traveled to the Grand Canyon last year and found it fascinating. I talked to locals and guides and people who had done the mule rides, raft rides, and hikes. It just really spoke to me as an ideal location for both the sort of story I wanted to tell and also as a geographic location that a character like Pine would be comfortable existing in.

Killer Nashville Interview with Dana Chamblee Carpenter

An Interview with Dana Chamblee Carpenter

Dana Chamblee Carpenter 

is the author of “Book of the Just,” the third novel in The Bohemian Trilogy. Carpenter’s award-winning short fiction has also appeared in

The Arkansas Review, Jersey Devil Press, Maypop, 

and, most recently in the anthologies, “Dead Ends: Stories from the Gothic South,” and “Killer Nashville Noir: Cold Blooded.” She teaches at a university in Nashville, TN where she lives with her husband and two children. Visit her at http://www.danachambleecarpenter.com/.

Q: You give such an intriguing glimpse of history and culture that is often not touched upon. What drew you to write a story in Bohemia during the 13th century and the new amazing places “Book of the Just” takes us?

I don’t tend to start out with a setting in mind—how fun would it be to know your destination ahead of time? I go where the character takes me, and it makes for a much more adventurous journey. When I discovered the connection between Mouse and the infamous medieval codex known as the Devil’s Bible, I knew her story started in the 13thcentury in Bohemia because that’s where and when the codex was written. But once Mouse got me there, I fell in love. I sometimes wonder if, in a different life, I lived in that part of the world. The more I learned about the places and the people and the stories and the culture, the more I felt like I was coming home somehow. Similarly, practical aspects of the story took me to the places in Book of the Just. Parts of Australia are remote and shrouded in ancient mythical truths—just the kind of spot Mouse would go if she needed a place to hide. Likewise, the Book of the Just (a real book like the Devil’s Bible) and my research of ancient Hebrew history took me to the Middle East and parts of Africa. And again, I felt a visceral connection to these places and a deep respect for the people who live there. I love going to these places and I love taking my readers with me. Too often we get anchored in our comfortable spaces and forget how beautifully diverse the world is. I want to make the unfamiliar familiar for myself and my readers so we can appreciate our differences while reveling in the joy of all that makes us human.

Q: How does your career as a teacher influence your writing?

I really don’t think of teaching or writing as a career. Career seems like something you choose. Writing and teaching chose me—sometimes against my will. ☺ I guess that makes them a calling. Whatever we name them, they are both integral parts of who I am, entwined and inseparable. I see teaching as a form of storytelling. Education is about learning to hear the stories around us, to connect to them and empathize with them, to understand them so that we can learn our own stories—in truth and without posturing or judgment. And then, once we’ve listened to or read the stories around us, we must learn to tell those stories and our own. Storytelling is also a form of teaching. The journey of writing and research teaches me so much about humanity and the world and history and science, the known and the unknown. I learn and then I share that with my readers, and then my readers teach me. It’s the same process I go through as a teacher—I learn and share with my students and then my students teach me. I suppose the deep current running through all of it is an insatiable curiosity.

Q: Your writing intricately mixes history, thriller, and a feeling of mysticism and magic. What things do you see influencing these aspects of your writing?

I’ve always been an eclectic reader. I read everything, every genre, including poetry and plays, both “literary” fiction and “commercial.” (I’m not sure what those labels offer us so I’m wary about using them.) I love going to new places and new times, and I love playing with “what ifs.” When I go looking for a common thread in my favorite writers, be it Eudora Welty or Maya Angelou or Neil Gaiman or William Faulkner or Stephen King or Katherine Howe or Naomi Novik or countless others, I see that each of them and the stories I find most compelling reveal a world to me where there is so much more that we don’t understand than what we think we do. That’s the world I want to live in—full of the thrill of discovery and the play of what if. And that’s the world I want to create for my readers, too. The unknown, the mysterious, the magical lives among us in the everyday. We just have to teach ourselves to look for it.

Q: Did the first novel in the series, Bohemian Gospel, winning the Claymore Award influence the rest of the series?

Winning the Claymore opened all the doors for me. So, in that way, yes. I got the chance to prove myself with Bohemian Gospel, which let me move on to write The Devil’s Bible and Book of the Just. But in terms of the story, no, winning didn’t influence what came after Bohemian Gospel. I learned pretty quickly as I was working on The Devil’s Bible, that I needed to shut out reader expectations, marketing issues, publisher wants, etc. If you let that stuff get in your head, the story loses its authenticity. It was even harder to push that all aside when I was working on Book of the Just because it was the end of the trilogy, and I knew that readers would want to see certain things tied up (and tied up in certain ways). But I just needed to get into a quiet space and listen to Mouse and let her finish the story for me.

Q:The Devil's Bible, the second in your series, not only won the Silver Falchion in Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror category but also Best Overall novel at this most recent Killer Nashville conference. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with that? How does it feel to have this success coincide with closing out this literary chapter with Book of the Just in October?

Oh, my goodness, what a night! I didn’t see that coming at all! The overwhelming emotion that settled on me like a blanket, when Clay called out The Devil’s Bible as the winner, was gratitude. I have an incredible family that walks this journey with me and makes sacrifices to give me space and time to chase this dream, and I am beyond thankful for them. But my Killer Nashville family—and I do think of them like family—has also been there for me when I most needed encouragement or kindness or guidance. The award that night came when I was nervously awaiting the release of Book of the Just, wrestling with the insecurities that most writers have, but I also coming off a frustrating summer where everything but my writing was defining me. I came into the conference that year worried I was only playing at being a writer. I felt like a fraud. And then I went to panels and had quiet conversations with friends, met new ones—I was reminded that this tribe of writers was my tribe, where I belonged. Winning the Silver Falchions was the ultimate affirmation. I left Killer Nashville emboldened, but also inspired to take that inclusion and support away with me so I could gift it to other writers. That’s what I’m looking to do with every article I write and event I attend as part of the Book of the Just tour—I want to give what I’ve been given. I want to embolden writers to believe in themselves. 

Killer Nashville Interview with Jeffery Deaver

An Interview with Jeffery Deaver

by Clay Stafford

Jeffery Deaver is one of the best writers on the planet today, as well as being a longtime supporter of Killer Nashville. Not only is he the author of around forty bestselling books (including a James Bond novel and The Bone Collector [made into a movie starring Denzel Washington]), Deaver is also an incredible teacher. This year, he’ll be doing a special writing intensive on Thursday at Killer Nashville covering the nuts and bolts of creating a highly commercial story. It’s a must-go-to class for anyone wanting to take their writing up a few notches. And from what better person to learn than from a man who has sold over 50 million copies of his books in over 150 countries and in over twenty-five languages. With the release of his on-the-edge-of-your-seat new book, “The Cutting Edge”, I talked with Jeff about his writing habits and what he will be teaching this year at Killer Nashville. And if you want to sign up for Jeff’s writing intensive, you can do so here.

CS: Your books are solid and obviously well-researched. Where or how do you do your research? Do you actually go on location? Or do you research through books and the Internet?

JD: Thanks! For geographic locations, I always go to the sites I’m writing about. I once wrote about a river I had been to years before—a raging torrent. It had been dammed by the time I set an exciting scene in my book there. The worst that could  happen was you’d be stuck in the mud. I heard about that from fans! As for the other research, generally I do online and book work. Occasionally I’ll reach out to an expert in the field, but generally that’s not necessary.

CS: Your books always have a series of plot twists. Do you have a writing formula that works for you as a storyteller?

JD: For me, this genre is all about the plot and twists (other crime writers prefer character-driven stories). The overall formula is to keep Mickey Spillane’s comment in mind: People don’t read books to get to the middle. I do whatever I can to propel readers through the story. Twists help me do that, as readers know they’ll be surprised. The formula is to create clues in the form of people, events and objects that either 1. serve two purposes, an innocent purpose being the most obvious or 2. are lost in an avalanche of trivia. Rule one with twists: You must never cheat.

CS: You write both novels and short stories. Is one easier to write than the other?

JD: Both should create deep emotional engagement. Novels, of course, are more grunt labor, since you need to create an elaborate world and characters we care about, to achieve that goal. Short stories have as their payoff, solely a twist, and we don’t need to do more than make our characters chess pieces, which might, or might not, be utterly destroyed in the end.

CS: Your stories are intricately woven. Obviously there is an outline. Otherwise the plots wouldn’t be as solid as they are. How extensively do you outline your projects and what does that outline look like?

JD: Oh, yes, I spend 8 months outlining. My book for 2019 has been planned out and the outline is 130 pages or so, single spaced, though that’s with very wide margins, since I take notes in the white space. It has every element of the story including all the clues, characters, notes, cross-references, subplots. A book (any book, even non-thrillers) is about structure as much as fine prose (I’d even say structure is more important than an elegant style). Some authors can achieve this structure by simply sitting down and writing. I can’t. My books are long and complicated, with the subplots weaving in and out with the main plot. An outline is necessary. Also, I’ve found that an outline lets you know early in the game whether a novel or story will work. It’s much easier to throw out a ten or twenty page outline when you’ve decided that it’s a no-go project, rather than creating 200 pages of prose and coming to that unfortunate conclusion.

CS: You’re doing a writing master class at Killer Nashville on Thursday, August 23 this year. Everyone is excited. Can you give us an overview of what we’ll be learning at the session?

JD: The course looks at the dozen or so general principles of writing fiction (such as defining goals, dealing with your publisher, and—yes—outlining), and then in depth analysis of the four elements of fiction: plot, character, dialogue and setting. It’s both helpful and funny. I’m really looking forward to it!

- Clay StaffordFounder of Killer Nashville 

Many thanks to Jeffery Deaver  for so graciously taking time to answer our questions and to

Andy Dodds from Grand Central Publising for facilitating this interview.

Killer Nashville Interview with Sara Blaedel

Sara Blaedel is the author of the #1 international bestselling series featuring Detective Louise Rick.   Recently, Ms. Blaedel took a bit of time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for Killer Nashville about The Undertaker's Daughter,  the first novel in her new triology.   Thanks to Bree Goodchild for conducting this interview.

Enjoy…and be inspired!

Clay Stafford

Founder of Killer Nashville 

An Interview with Sara Blaedel
by Bree Goodchild

KN:The reader is taken through the process of being a funeral director as Ilka experiences it; from picking up the body to embalming, reconstruction and makeup to the funeral itself. What kind of research methods did you utilize to create this sense of realism for your character? 

SB: Research is an essential part of my writing process. It always has been, and that only intensifies as the years and titles go by. I place absolute importance on achieving authenticity. Readers are clever and savvy; they know their stuff and aren’t going to buy into anything (in this genre) that doesn’t ring true or feel possible.

As has been the case with all of my books, my research for The Undertaker’s Daughter entailed everything from reading to traveling to becoming an apprentice. When I decided to use the US as the setting for the first time, I studied the various regions until I zeroed in on Racine, Wisconsin, a city which has the nation’s largest number of Danish-Americans and Danish immigrants. I dug into the funeral home industry in the States, comparing and contrasting its laws and regulations and traditions to those in Denmark. I was really struck by how differently this extremely sensitive and reverent work is handled from one country to another. I was fascinated to learn that there are varying laws even from one state to another within the US.

I spent weeks in Racine, living amongst and getting to know the lovely people there and how they navigate. What a wonderful experience- I can’t wait to visit again. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to intern at a funeral home, which proved enlightening, compelling, and so informative.

KN: Ilka seems to miss bits of information and the subtleties of interaction between other characters. What was your thinking behind this dramatic decision? 

SB: I’m so glad you caught this. Ilka is a newcomer to the US; this is her first time visiting the country. A Danish citizen, she’s an outsider when she arrives in Racine, and she’s alone and dealing with a death in the family. Being out of her element in so many ways, she struggles, at first, as anyone would, to keep up and to understand the nuances of another language and culture.

KN: Ilka seems more of an observer than a detective in this book - compared to Louise Rick. What was the creative process behind developing Ilka’s character? 

That’s an interesting question. Ilka is absolutely more of an observer; at least at first. She’s not a detective. When we meet her, she’s leading a quiet and modest life as a school photographer. She is summoned to the States after the death of her long-estranged father, an undertaker, who lived and worked in Racine. Ilka, while trying to tend to her father’s estate, business, and tax issues, takes some time to try to connect with the man she barely remembers. It is while she is living in Racine and laboring in her father’s funeral home that Ilka finds herself needing to search for information and dig for clues. She’s, at most, an amateur sleuth, with no expertise or experience in detective work.

KN: Reading this book, I was surprised when at the end I did not experience the sense of closure between Ilka and her father as expected. Can you talk about what you hoped readers would get out of The Undertaker’s Daughter? 

That’s another fascinating question. The Undertaker’s Daughter is the first in a trilogy, and so, while I had intended to bring to completion many of the storylines in this book, full closure wasn’t part of the plan. Yet.

For me, this series is about familial relationship and the bond between fathers and daughters. It’s about second chances and the many ways in which we can start again. It’s about the ways secrets and lies can devastate, and how love and acceptance, and the truth can be so redeeming.

KN: Do you see this as the beginning of a new thriller series, like Louise Rick, or a stand-alone?

The Undertaker’s Daughter is the first in a trilogy. All three volumes will be set in the States, which is a super exciting first for me.

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Many thanks to Sara Blaedel for so graciously taking time to answer our questions and to Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski from Grand Central Publishing for facilitating this interview.