Guest Author Interviews
March-April 2004
Book Giveaway: Worse Than Death
Interviewed for SinC-IC by Lynn Kinnaman
SinC-IC: How did you start writing?
BJF: Like many writers, I started writing as a child. I grew up in a family of eight children and we all had our talents. Mine was writing. Throughout my schooling, I was encouraged by my teachers. There was never a question in my mind that I would be a writer.
SinC-IC: Why did you choose to write mysteries?
BJF: I didn’t start out as a mystery writer. Most of my published work would be considered horror or dark fantasy with an occasional humorous article or story. I played with the idea of writing a mystery because I love reading them. My favorites are the oldies: Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Rex Stout. I discovered Elizabeth Peters years ago when I sent my husband to the library to pick up a book by Ellis Peters. I guess he figured one Peters was as good as the next. Lucky for me. Since then, I’ve read too many wonderful contemporary authors to mention.
It took me a while to come across a mystery idea that spoke to me. Then it hit me like a mackerel upside my head.
Many of my friends are horror writers and I attend the conventions. My first horror convention was a unique experience, to say the least. Something most people wouldn’t know about. And how many times have I heard, “You’re a horror writer? You seem so normal.” As far as I can tell, I am normal. I’m a mom and a grandma. I have a regular ol’ day job. But I also belong to a small, tight community of writers who don’t always get the respect and recognition of other writers and who have their own way of doing things.
I had my idea for a mystery: A mom from the suburbs is a horror writer and somebody’s killing the horror writers. I’m hooked now. I’m writing the second in the series and I have a proposal all ready to go on a supernatural mystery.
SinC-IC: Briefly summarize the plot or the plot inspiration for your latest book.
BJF: My amateur sleuth is Mary Kate Flaherty, a suburban wife and mother who writes erotic vampire novels under the pseudonym, Theodora Zed. She’s not famous and she doesn’t make a lot of money. She’s a struggling paperback writer who works hard promoting her books to horror fans by dressing goth and attending signings and conventions. When a young, unknown writer is murdered at a convention shortly after dissing Mary Kate publicly, it opens a can of worms involving the unsavory side of the writing business as well as implicating her. To further complicate things (I like mixing it up), Mary Kate’s family isn’t thrilled about her occupation and handsome, talented writer, Conner Drake, wants to be more than a con-buddy.
SinC-IC: Any interesting or unusual thing happen during the development of Worse Than Death?
BJF: Funny you should ask. When I was writing Worse Than Death, I talked about my work-in-progress with other horror writers, my friends. Remember, I said this was a tight community. I found that, more often than you would think, I was being asked if I knew Karen E. Taylor. No, I would say, I never heard of her. I was even asked by an editor while I was pitching a book at a convention. As it turned out, Karen E. Taylor is a horror writer who’s a mom in the suburbs and writes The Vampire Legacy Series. She had been getting calls from people telling her that this writer, Barbara Ferrenz, was writing about her. We eventually met at the World Horror Convention, straightened it out, and have been good friends ever since.
SinC-IC: What is your writing process?
BJF: The process for me starts with a concept. I get an idea that intrigues me, then I spend some time seeing if I can hang a story on it. The characters come to me of their own accord, like meeting someone new. I do a lot of research and that helps me build the plot. I read books and newspapers, interview people, visit places, search the Net. My outline consists of a handwritten paragraph on a notebook page per chapter. The rest of the page is used to jot ideas or bits of information as I get them. I’m a right brain type of thinker, so it’s not unusual for me to draw maps, use different colors of ink, or circle things and draw arrows connecting things in my outline. The first chapter is always easy for me to write, I’ve been thinking about it so long. I’m open to veering away from and revising my outline. Sometimes the most consciously well-constructed ideas aren’t the most fun and interesting. I’ll follow a story where it takes me. Sometimes it works and sometimes I wasted a chunk of time and have to go back to the original plan.
SinC-IC: How do you discipline yourself and schedule your writing?
BJF: I used to be very disciplined. Today is writing day and I will work from this hour to that. I was much more productive and I recommend it. I’m getting older and ornery and now work in spits and spurts. I’ll blow off everything else and write for days or I’ll allow myself to be distracted by this thing we call life. (Should I admit that sometimes it takes nothing more than an old favorite movie on TV like The Day the Earth Stood Still to distract me?)
SinC-IC: How do you handle rejection?
BJF: Ah, rejection. It’s part of the business. I’ve been at this so long, I laugh when I get a rejection. But it’s not a happy laugh. Seriously, once I get past the initial sting (and it will always sting), I know that not every story can be published every time and that when my work is accepted, it’s because it went through the editorial process and was considered one of the best submitted. It’s my job to submit my best.
SinC-IC: What's the one thing you couldn't do without in order to write?
BJF: Easy. The support of my husband, Brian. I explored what it was like to be a writer and not have a supportive spouse in Worse Than Death. It wasn’t pretty. I am fortunate.
SinC-IC: Do you have someone who critiques your work?
BJF: Brian, the aforementioned supportive spouse, and my fourteen-year-old daughter, Becky, are my first readers. They’ll let me know if a character doesn’t work or if my prose makes them go, “Huh?” When it sounds okay to them but I feel as if something isn’t right, I have several close writer friends who are always there for me. They have no problem telling me exactly where and how I went off track. I trust their judgment and I’m very grateful.
SinC-IC: Do you have an agent?
BJF: I don’t have an agent right now but I would like to. I have had an agent in the past. A good agent opens doors and gives it to you straight. In the absence of an agent, I’ve found that networking with others in the writing business has put me in line for opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Organizations like Sisters in Crime are a great place to start. Conferences and conventions are good for meeting agents and editors as well as writers, and maybe making some lifelong friends.
SinC-IC: What was the best writing advice you’ve received?
BJF: “If you don’t try, your chance of failing is 100%.” This from my husband after I had been writing for years and submitting nothing for publication. He was right. I sold the first story I sent out.
SinC-IC: What’s the worst?
BJF: Over the years, I’ve gotten advice that includes “You can’t write that.” In the early days, this was enough for me to abandon a project. Now I know, writing that, whatever that is at the time, is what makes me the writer I am and different from the next writer.
SinC-IC: What’s the best book you’ve read about writing?
BJF: The book that shook me up and helped me tap into uncharted creativity was Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down The Bones. This isn’t a nuts ‘n bolts grammar and plot book. I read this book at a time when I was writing a lot and everything I wrote was starting to sound like “blah, blah, blah” to my ear. Writing Down The Bones made writing exciting and fun again.
SinC-IC: What advice do you have for beginning authors?
BJF: Having been a beginning writer at one point, I think it’s essential to read a lot and to read widely, not just in one’s genre. Writing has a lot in common with other occupations. You have to take time to learn how to do it, then practice, practice, practice. The hardest thing for me to learn was how to deal with the screwy business of writing. All I can say is be patient, don’t sell yourself short, and try to build a support system with other writers.
SinC-IC: Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?
BJF: I’d like to thank you for the honor of being Guest Author this month. I’ve been a part of the mystery writing community for a while now and have found it to be a gracious and welcoming one. Also, if you enjoy Chapter 1 of Worse Than Death here, you might want to read Chapter 2 on my website. http://www.barbarajferrenz.com
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