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Q.
What led you to make your mystery a historical mystery set during the
American Revolution?
A. I moved to New Jersey in the 1970’s
and was delighted by the proximity of places that were just names on a
page when I studied history at the University of Washington. Massachusetts,
New York, Princeton, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Virginia were all
easily drivable distances and filled with stories and artifacts of the
past. When I started writing in the 1990’s I looked for a story
to set in New Jersey during a period that had not been covered in a lot
of mysteries. The American Revolution was perfect as the British and Continental
armies had crisscrossed this state many times. And after starting the
story, I discovered I had an ancestor who had fought in the Revolution.
Q. What are the
special challenges in writing historical fiction?
A. My goal is to tell a story that will
entertain and will pull readers into a wonderful, dangerous, exciting
era of American history. To do that, I try to keep a balance between the
needs of the story and the needs of history. Too much story and we’re
not transported back to the 18th century. Too much history and we have
a textbook. I want the dialogue to have an archaic feel yet be highly
accessible. I hope my characters reflect their unique era but also allow
the reader to identify with them easily.
Q.. What research
do you do to assure a novel's authenticity?
A. I continue to amass hundreds of books
on the period – I never seem to have enough shelf space. Once I
have the basic historic framework, I search for details of everyday life:
diaries give me words and expressions we don’t use anymore; cookbooks
help me figure out what’s being served at Raritan Tavern; books
on fabric and period clothing allow me to dress Mistress Abigail. The
details, while endless, are great fun to find.
Additionally, my husband and I have spent years visiting historic sites.
There are many interesting ones on the East Coast, ranging from the magnificent
Independence Hall in Philadelphia, to military sites such as Fort Ticonderoga
in New York, to the living recreation of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia,
to the small houses and taverns scattered throughout the original colonies.
Q. How did you
get interested in mystery writing in the first place?
A. I have been addicted to mysteries since
discovering Nancy Drew when I was a child. Over the years I have derived
so much enjoyment from the mystery genre that I wanted to give something
back to the field. Choosing to write historical mysteries may be related
to my other favorite childhood series, the Little House books by Laura
Ingalls Wilder.
Q. What are the
two or three most important qualities of a good mystery that you tried
to integrate into the writing of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Murder?
A. I love mysteries that take me to worlds
about which I know little, such as running bloodhounds in the Okefenokee
Swamp, or being a park ranger, or living through the Civil War in Richmond,
VA. I want to read about characters I like, people who make me laugh as
well as cause concern when they run into trouble, people I can’t
wait to meet again in the next book because I think of them as friends.
I want to be told a good story that I can’t bear to stop reading.
I hope readers become so entranced by 18th century America and by the
friends they meet there, that they will have difficulty putting down Life,
Liberty, and the Pursuit of Murder. In turn they will want to return again
and again to hear more about Abigail.
Q. Readers have
praised your heroine, Abigail Lawrence, as a particularly appealing protagonist,
independent-minded and strong-willed. What were the challenges in creating
such a well-formed, multi-dimensional character?
A. Early in the writing process, I discovered
I was more comfortable writing in first person than in third person. This
was very helpful in developing Abigail because I was then directly in
her head and anything that happened was viewed through her eyes. With
the help of my excellent editor, Barbara Phillips, I included more of
Abigail’s reactions to whatever was happening, which added dimension
to her character. One problem with writing in first person is that nothing
can occur without the heroine’s knowledge and it was occasionally
a challenge to get the evidence in front of her. Abigail likes this perspective
and can’t imagine why it would ever make me discomforted.
Q. Do you regard
Abigail as an unusual pre-feminist for her time?
A. Women like Abigail, literate women who
ran their own businesses, and widows with children who did not remarry
were not the norm, but would not have been uncommon in the more populated
areas of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, which contained the most
diverse populations during the Revolutionary era. Many women worked along
side their husbands in business and continued those businesses as widows.
Q. A number of
readers have mentioned the role of Abigail's teenage daughter Beth-- the
mother-daughter relationship when the mother is a single parent, the mother's
efforts to protect the adolescent daughter from the attentions of men,
and other aspects that resonate with so many contemporary parents' experiences.
Was this intentional and how did it evolve?
A. Abigail’s status as a single mother
with a child evolved because of the legal and societal limits placed on
women of that era. Women had legal rights only as they were provided by
their father until they were married and then by their husband. I wanted
Abigail to be a “femme sole” or a woman alone, so she would
have legal and social control over her own life, a status she achieved
as a widow. However, I also wanted Abigail to have the solace and consternation
that come from being part of a family, thus Beth as well, as her extended
family of Uncle Samuel, Matty and John. My two wonderful grown daughters,
Kendra and Julia, have a definite influence on why I see daughters as
essential to developing a complete character.
Q. Did personal
experiences or relationships of your own help you shape any of your characters
or their experiences?
A. My daughters attended a Quaker school,
Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. Through them, I learned about the
Society of Friends, which has been helpful in developing Abigail’s
values and beliefs. For example, Quakers believe in the equality of all
people, which had an impact on Abigail’s sense of independence.
Also, when I was creating the back-story for Matty and John, I wanted
to find a way in which they could be freed slaves. I decided that they
would have been bought and then freed by people who were against slavery.
It was months later that I discovered this was actually done in the 18th
century by Quakers in Philadelphia.
Q. Did you find
it more difficult to write certain characters in your novel, and if so
which and why?
A. I had originally intended that an evolving
romantic interest would exist between Constable Josiah Grey and Abigail,
but no matter how I tried, I was not able to write him as a fully developed
person. I finally relegated him to a secondary role (sorry, Josiah) only
to find a complex and interesting character literally walk in the door
as I was looking for a way to end a scene. Abigail and I both greatly
enjoy Charles Whitworth and we are quite glad he arrived, expected or
not.
Q. When you are
writing, do you move forward chapter by chapter or is the process less
orderly? What is your writing practice?
A. Before I begin a book, I select an aspect
of the era that I don’t know much about and think would be interesting
for me and for readers. In Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Murder, this
topic was indentured servitude. Once I have the focal point for the story,
I need to know who is murdered, who committed the murder and what motivated
the murder. Then I just write from beginning to end, discovering what
happens as I go along. This causes both panic, when I don’t know
what comes next, and elation, when unanticipated scenes and characters
appear out of nowhere. My organizing principle is Abigail’s daily
routine – what would she do in the morning, what would she serve
for dinner, what would happen that night, and so on, until the murder
is solved. I’m learning to allow the first draft to be rough as
there will be many revisions during which the plot will be smoothed out,
the clues properly hidden, and the individual dialogue written.
Q. How did you
go about becoming a published author? Any advice for aspiring writers
out there?
A. It was a ten-year process. I started
by taking writing classes at the local community college, then moved on
to classes at the New School in New York City. I joined several writers
groups whose members provided motivation to keep on writing and constructive
criticism to help me improve my work. I joined Mystery Writers of America
and Sisters-in-Crime, attended conferences and gradually got to know people
in the field. I submitted my manuscript to the St. Martin’s Malice
Domestic contest – I didn’t win, but I did get the book finished!
I met agents and editors at the MWA Edgar week bash, to whom I submitted
my query letter and first chapters. I attended an MWA dinner and was introduced
to the woman who would buy my book and become my editor.
Advice for aspiring writers: 1) READ. 2) Write what you
want to read. 3) Keep at it. 4) You never know where or when you’ll
meet a great teacher or agent or editor. 4) The hardest to accomplish
– Keep believing in yourself.
Q. Who gets to
read your work-in-progress?
A. I am very fortunate to have a husband
who not only is an excellent editor, but who feels forlorn if he isn’t
given every newly written page along with the pencil to edit it. He doesn’t
get to touch the material on the computer because (please don’t
tell him), I don’t always follow his suggestions.
I belong to two writers groups, one for fiction writers and one for mystery
writers. Both groups make significant contributions to my work, help keep
me sane, and keep me plugging away whenever my muse has left the building.
Q. How did your
career as a psychotherapist or involvement in other non-writing activities
impact your literary art?
A. Writing swallows in one gulp everything
you are and have ever done and then asks for more. Specifically, my background
as a psychotherapist has given me a respect for the complexity and uniqueness
of each individual, and for the motivations that drive behavior. It also
has refined my empathy and taught me to listen carefully (without my own
internal monologue) to what people say. This is a great help in writing
dialogue. Additionally, my work as a therapist affected the books I read.
After listening to people’s growth pangs and crisis all day, I didn’t
want to hear the same from the characters with whom I chose to relax.
I wanted well written stories with definite plots, that unlike the messiness
of life, tied everything up in a neat package by the last page.
Q. Are you working
on anything right now that you would like to share with your readers?
A. I am currently working on the second
book featuring Abigail Lawrence, her family, friends, and foes. The British
still occupy New Brunswick and Abigail becomes enmeshed in the death of
a British camp follower. A fascinating part of 18th century army life,
most camp followers were women who accompanied their military men (usually
husbands) to provide services such as cooking, washing, and mending. Sometimes
whole families would follow the army, to the dismay of commanders who
had to assure their safety and rations. Officers wives, such as Martha
Washington on the patriot side, would join their husbands in the winter
encampments which were often lively social scenes. I hope readers will
enjoy Abigail’s adventures in this unique historical community.
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