Why did you decide to become a writer?
I didn’t, really. Stories have just been playing in my head for as long as I can recall. When I was a little kid, I remember being ridiculously excited to learn to write. Maybe all kids are; I don’t know. But as soon as I got that pencil in my hand, I began writing stories. In elementary school, it was plays. When I was eleven, I wrote a 600-page story about a girl on a boat (never finished). At fifteen, I wrote my first novel, an 800-page monstrosity. I had written five novels by the time I graduated high school. I was born a writer. I’ve tried to pursue more traditional career paths, but I just keep coming back to writing. I’m compelled.
Where do you get your ideas for your books?
The Vampiric Housewife trilogy originated in a dream. I was studying for an anatomy exam and had True Blood playing in the background. That night I had crazy dreams about a vampire housewife running from a mad scientist. The dream stuck with me and the next thing I knew, I had three books. In college, I had to read Virginia Woolf’s Room of One’s Own and the part about Shakespeare’s sister always remained in the back of my mind. Eventually it grew into my book, Shakespeare’s Sister.
Most of my story ideas just come to me; I don’t usually decide I want to write about this. Plots just begin playing out in my head. At any given time, I have two or three—sometimes more—stories floating around in my head. Some turn into novels. Some don’t. I think the only book I consciously decided I wanted to write was The Creaking Tree. I have always loved stories where a character crosses over to a magical land like Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and The Chronicles of Narnia. But it seems like only children get to go on those kinds of adventures. Then I watched Pan’s Labyrinth and finally found a fairy tale for adults, but it was still a child that got to go on that magical journey. That’s when I decided I would write an adult fairy tale where a grown-up got to cross over to the magical kingdom. And from there the book just evolved.
How long does it take you to write a book?
It varies. I carried around The Vampiric Housewife in my head for two or three months then wrote the first draft in about six weeks. The sequel, The House of the Vampire Queen, was written in just under four weeks. The Creaking Tree marinated in my head for close to five years before I sat down to write it. The actual writing of the book probably took somewhere between 8 and 12 months.
Do you have a writing process?
I do. Most of it doesn’t involve writing, as weird as that sounds. First, I let the characters and plots marinate in my head for months or, a lot of times, years. Then when the characters “start talking to me,” I begin to write. Don’t worry, I don’t hear voices. It’s more like a movie starts playing in my head. I hear the dialogue, the characters’ thoughts, I see all the scenery. I can have a whole plot to a book figured out, but if my characters don’t start talking to me, I can’t write it. Once I begin writing, I try not to get too caught up in the technical aspect. I just want to get the story down, then I will go back through and work on the wording.
What’s the hardest part of writing books?
Beginnings. Because I spend so much time with the story in my head, I know a million details about it that won’t ever make it into the book—characters’ histories and quirks, layouts and décor of houses, even entire scenes. I can’t just blurt all this information out on the page. I have to find a way to slowly dole it out and build the characters and plots. Once I get going, it’s easy, but those first couple chapters can be hard.
That and titles. I’m always struggling with titles.
How much of your life do you incorporate in your books?
Not as much as people think. I let my experiences inspire me instead of writing specifically about them. And I don’t base characters on myself or anyone I know. I may take a personality trait and run with it, but I can’t point to any character I’ve written and say this character is a representation of this person. The whole reason I write fiction is so I can invent, create.
Do you have any writing rituals or writing superstitions?
I wouldn’t say that I really have any writing rituals. I write on both my laptop and in notebooks. Sometimes I write at my desk, other days it’s the couch or the dining room table, sometimes I even move my laptop to the bed. I don’t write at any particular time of the day, though the flow seems to come better at night, but that’s probably because I’m a night person.
I do have one writing superstition though. I feel like if I talk about the current book I’m working on, I’ll jinx it. So I tend not to talk much about my current projects.
Do you write every day?
No. I know that everyone under the sun tells writers that they have to write every day. But some days the flow just doesn’t come. Some days life gets in the way. And like I said earlier, a lot of my writing process doesn’t take place on paper; it takes place in my head. I can go weeks without putting pen to paper, but that doesn’t mean I’m not working on something.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Read. Read everything put in front of you. Read the type of books you want to write—contemporary, literary, mysteries, romances—and study them. They will teach more about writing than any book on writing or writing class. That and just write. Good or bad, published or unpublished, just keep writing.
What do you consider your genre?
This is where I do everything wrong. If you want to be a successful writer, everyone tells you to find your niche. Well, I write what’s in my head. Sometimes that’s vampires. Sometimes that’s historical fiction. Sometimes that’s a fairy tale. Right now I have a couple of dystopias floating around in there. And a romance novel. But I do always write about one thing: women. In The Vampiric Housewife trilogy, Valerie goes from 1950s housewife to queen to goddess. Shakespeare’s Sister tells the story of three women—Judith, Anna, and Letta—and their struggles to become writers in three different eras. And in The Creaking Tree you get to see the heroine Louisa save a kingdom, but more importantly herself.
I know you said you don’t want to jinx yourself by talking about your current project, but can you tell us anything about the book you’re working on now?
I will tell you this: I absolutely loved writing The Creaking Tree, which really embraced three passions of mine: cooking, nature, and magic. Those things are definitely spilling over into my current projects. The Creaking Tree also re-inspired my love of Michigan. I’ve lived here all my life so it’s the backdrop to a lot of my work, but in my last novel, I really embraced the beauty and wonder of my home state. That’s something you’ll continue to see in my future novels.
When you’re not writing, what are you doing?
Hanging out with my husband. We’re both pretty low key people so that generally means watching Joss Whedon’s Firefly for the millionth time or having a Big Bang Theory marathon. I play with my dog, read, take pictures. I love to cook and bake—I even keep a recipe blog. I like to take pictures and go for hikes. My husband and I make it up north to my parents’ cabin as often as we can—which is never often enough.