Vicki
I hear that you're leaving Ontario and going to live in B.C. Will Belle Palmer
be staying behind in Sudbury?
Lou
Though she's lived frugally and manages a whack of her father's mutual funds,
Belle is far too young to think about retiring. She will spend the same number
of years in the Nickel Capital as did her creator, twenty-nine. So she has
about seven more to go. She doesn't yet know that I have sold her house privately,
but she would approve that I saved on the commission.
Vicki
It's very common in series that feature an amateur female sleuth for the sleuth
over the course of the books to hook up with a guy - usually a cop. I'm wondering
why Belle is remaining single. In particular I found it interesting that the
likely candidate for the boyfriend-cop position is Steve, and there seems
to be no romantic interest there. I congratulate you on avoiding the stereotype,
by the way.
Lou
Some like romance; others have begged me not to give Belle a partner. In my
own reading choices, the off-again, on-again nature of sexual relationships
tends to elbow the plot aside. And when the two get married, the sizzle goes
away. I'm bringing in a former high school boyfriend in the next book, Enemy
of the People. Belle had an obsession with Gary Myers, boring all her friends
in university with her shrine. Yet she never heard from him after the graduation
dance.
Vicki
In the latest Belle Palmer book, a mention is made of Algonquin Bay (which
is fictional) and John Cardinal, the character in Giles Blunt's books. Did
you ask Giles for his permission to use his town and character?
Lou
Now you have me worried, since the answer is no. Luckily there's nothing libelous
about a mere mention, however. Gordon Aalborg flagged my Blackflies Are Murder
in one of his books, which gave me the idea.
Vicki
I believe you've written a standalone novel as well. How did that work for
you in terms of creativity? How do you find writing series vs. writing standalones
and which do you prefer to write.
Lou
A Little Learning is a Murderous Thing was intended to start a series. I had
finished my first two Belle books and hadn't found a publisher, so I was reluctant
to begin a third. ALL sat in the closet from 1998 to 2004 until someone suggested
Five Star, a house that does limited printings of hardcovers for libraries.
As for continuing the Michigan setting, I found that an academic mystery was
fun but far too difficult to write. All that intellectual sparring wore me
out. Give me the bush over the Ivory Tower anytime.
Vicki
I also believe that your standalone is set in the U.S. Do you find any differences
in your writing style when setting a book in the U.S. vs. in Canada? Incidentally,
I came across a glaring Americanism in Murder, eh? At some point, someone
(I don't remember the exact details) says that the time is X minutes of Y.
Canadians never say OF. We always say TO.
Lou
You caught me out. I lived thirty years in the US. But according to a U
of Toronto dissertation on linguistics, a very few Canadians do say "A quarter
of" instead of "to." Not surprisingly, these folks tend to
live on the US border in the Maritimes. As for style, my editor at RendezVous
Press usually catches any errors, though we did tangle over the spelling
of snow plow, which he wanted to spell plough. Any phone book has the answer.
Vicki
You have an American background, I know. Did you consider setting Belle Palmer
in the U.S? Do you think it would have made any difference to her character
if she had been an American? Do you think it would have given you a larger
audience for the books?
Lou
She'd still be penny-pinching, and she'd still be anti-war, and she'd still
be a liberal, small l, whatever side of the border. And yes, American presses
usually mean larger audiences, not necessarily by ten times, though, unless
you're published by one of the big dogs.
Vicki
How much of Belle Palmer are you? I know you live in pretty much the same
setting; your picture on your book jacket shows you with a German Shepherd
and a Poodle. Are there other similarities? Are you also a classic movie buff?
Lou
We live in exactly the same place, heat with wood, and enjoy snowmobiling,
canoeing, and snowshoeing. My father also came up here from Florida and
lived in a nursing home like George Palmer. A film booker, he gave me his
love of
films, and we saw four unreleased films every week in a private screening
room from the time I was five or six. I remember shivering over the original "The
Thing." It was natural to appreciate classic films, and like my sleuth,
I used to be glued to Ted Turner's TCM. Not lately, though, because Bell
Expressvu doesn't carry it. I'm not a realtor, though. I retired from teaching
useful
but very boring English courses at a community college. I have to keep remembering
that Belle is 45 not 60, more energetic and resilient and with a different
set of references.
Vicki
I love dog characters, and I can tell that you do too. Is Freya based on a
real dog?
Lou
Freya was a sweetheart who passed on at thirteen in 1997. She had German
lines and all the drive in the world, unlike my current, lazy American-bred
GSD,
Nikon. The bush poodle is based on Friday (not Strudel), my five-year-old
mini. She is licking my ear to write a sequel for her, The Return of the
Bush Poodle, suggesting that the "return" idea would make a great
parallel for my usual film sub-theme.
Vicki
Can you name your three favourite Canadian authors? If you don't want to pick
favourites, how about three that you'd recommend (for any reason) that people
might want to discover.
Lou
Robertson Davies' Fifth Business is the finest Canadian mystery novel and
perhaps the finest Canadian novel period. I taught it for years, and every
time I read it, fresh things appeared. Alice Munro's stories please me because
many of my aunts lived in the Wingham area in early twentieth-century Ontario.
Perhaps I even passed Alice in the main street when I was eight. And sadly,
I recall L.R. Wright, whose Sunshine Coast mysteries were a beacon for us
nearly twenty years ago. And she was the first Canadian to win the Edgar,
was she not?
Vicki
Tell me a bit about your writing process. Do you set aside a special time
every day - do you have a place dedicated to writing? Do you belong to any
sort of critique group? Who, if anyone, reviews your books before they're
ready to reach the wider world?
Lou
I've changed my writing process radically since I first began. When I had
a job, I was limited to weekends. I'd envision the crime and the reason and
the final scene, then start from the beginning, doing little planning but
enjoying the spontaneity. When I developed serious back problems suddenly,
I couldn't write for months because I couldn't sit at a computer. When I started
again (Murder, Eh?), I would plan in the afternoon lying in my pasha chair,
then write for fifteen minutes the next morning, gradually increasing to no
more than an hour. My record was ten pages in an hour. Now that I'm back to
semi-normal, I'm somewhere in between. I have to admit that more planning
prevents later rewrites, though. As for readers, I usually get one or two
of my fellow English teachers to give the manuscript a scan.
Vicki
What are you working on right now?
Lou
I "finished" Belle's next book for 2007, Enemy of the People.
It'll get another read or two, but everything's in place. The book involves
reintroduced
elk as well as environmental pollution, a perfect theme for Sudbury. The
Ibsen play in the title centers around a picturesque spa town in northern
Norway,
where the local doctor discovers that a paper mill up the river is actually
poisoning the water and may be endangering people's health instead of curing
them. Of course the mayor and powers want him to hide his findings. O tempora.
Vicki
What have you got planned that is just a twinkle in your eye at the moment?
Lou
I'm fifty pages into a police procedural set in Sooke River, a fictional town
west of Sooke. It will star a forty-year-old female sergeant who heads up
the RCMP detachment. Under her will be a Sikh constable and a disgruntled
older woman who wanted the job but ended up on a partial disability (back
problems catching a felon; who could guess?).
Vicki
Is there any book that you feel you'd like to write, but for some reason probably
never will?
Lou
I've traveled the US Southwest extensively to hunt Fremont and Anasazi ruins.
I'd love to write a screenplay about Richard Wetherill, the rancher who "found" Mesa
Verde with its cliff dwellings and later dug the area around Grand Gulch,
a possible religious or commercial hub of the Anasazi Empire. He was shot
down in cold blood. It's a near-mythic American story that deserves to be
told. I see Brad Pitt as the young Wetherill. Calling Robert Redford for
the elder.
Lou
Your settings in Muskoka and its more dilapidated rural edges are south of
mine and have a distinct identity. How would you describe that part of the
country, and what is its allure for readers, Canadian or not?
Vicki
Today, of course, Muskoka is best known as a vacationer's paradise, but it
is also an interesting blend of one end of the social scale vs. the other.
Prime lake-front property is pretty much out of the range of the middle class
now. Some of those so-called cottages have bedrooms the size of my house.
But if you step back a few hundred yards from the waterfront, the property
values drop so fast that a house and property is worth perhaps a quarter of
a home in Toronto. A very, very interesting clash of big-money and shall we
say, much less money, within literally a few hundred yards.
Thus I can write about the aristrocatic Madison clan of Burden of Memory,
and the working-class McKenzies of Scare the Light Away, and put them in
the same landscape. Then there is also the contrast of the multi-million
dollar
cottage just feet away from the wilderness. But at its heart, what we call "The
Near North" in Ontario is essentially still a place where people go
to find peace, relaxation and natural beauty. Perfect setting for a mystery!
Lou
Your bio indicates that you lived in South Africa many years ago. Have you
ever thought of setting a novel there?
Vicki
I have given that some thought, yes. I have to decide if I'm going to write
another Hope River novel (Hope River being the fictional town which is the
setting of Scare the Light Away and the forthcoming Child of Mne). If I do
decide to go that route I have in mind a book with a historical backstory
that takes place during the Boer War. Canada sent troops to fight in the war,
and having lived in South Africa I can tell you that a good number of people
have never forgotten what happened back then. Did you know that the first
concentration camps were set up by the British in that war? The descendents
of the people imprisoned in those concentration camps have never forgotten
it. Age-old bitterness is great fodder for mystery writers. I also have friends
and family still living in South Africa - it would be great to have an excuse
to visit them. I haven't been back for more than 20 years.
Lou
And what about Oakville, a suburb of Toronto, where you live now? If you were
plumbing its secrets, how different a book would that be from your others?
Vicki
I've never even thought of setting a book in Oakville. If I did, it
would be very, very different in style. When I was growing up here
Oakville was
the most affluent town in Canada - I think it now ranks as number
three. Which still isn't bad. My writing style would have to change.
I could talk about
strolling Lakeshore Road with a Grande Coffee Light Frappachino in
hand, looking in the windows of the art galleries and the dress shops
that stock nothing
above a size 12. But underneath, the stories could well be the same.
When it comes to dysfunctional familes, it really doesn't make much
difference,
I believe, if they are hard-scrabble farmers, or suburban Yuppies.
Lou
Do you think that a Canadian setting is an easier sell now than five
or ten years ago?
Vicki
Definitely. People like Giles Blunt and Lyn Hamilton have pushed the
door open for the rest of us to stumble through. Ten years ago, no
American publisher
would have picked up a Canadian-set mystery novel. Canadian writers
were told to change their locale before they'd be considered for publication.
It might
be part of the increasing sophistication of the American mystery reader.
They're eager now for Swedish novels in translation, for example.
On Dorothy L, the
mystery readers' Internet group, there has lately been a lot of complaining
that Americans get an Americanized version of English books. I think
that the mystery reader is starting to tell the mystery publisher
that they want
more than the same old American-oriented stuff. Don't get me wrong,
some of that American-oriented stuff is pretty darn good. But it isn't
the be-all
and end-all.
Lou
For your plots, the past becomes a character in itself. The Second
World War seems to be a favourite playground. Is there a family history?
The letters
and diaries you describe are so real that they don't seem fictional.
Vicki
The letters and diaries in Scare the Light Away and Burden of Memory
are all completely fictional. I warned my mom that some people might
think that there
are autobiographical elements in Scare the Light Away regarding the
character's childhood family life. Which isn't the case at all - I
had a very pleasant
childhood. Like a lot of people my age, I was raised with my parents'
stores of the War. My mother - who is an American, born in Cleveland
- was a Petty
Officer in the U.S. Navy, stationed in San Diego. My dad was in the
R.C.A.F. Burden of Memory is dedicated to my late father. He loved
to tell the story
of when he was on the ship going toEngland , and first night out he
put on his pajamas to get into bed. His sergeant tore a strip off
him - the troops
had to sleep fully dressed because if they were attacked at sea they
had one minute to get up on deck. I used that story in Burden of Memory.
Lou
Have you given any thought to writing a historical? Research seems
to be a forte of yours.
Vicki
Funny you should ask. I have recently completed a novel that takes
place in the Yukon during the Klondike gold rush of 1898. It's called
Golddigger: A
Klondike Mystery. I'm just beginning to shop that around. But since
you asked about research, I must confess that I hate doing it.
Lou
Dogs appear in both books, but in very different ways. What part
do you feel that animals play in people's lives? Do you feel,
as I often
do,
that authors
sometimes "fake it" with pets, include them as life
accessories?
Vicki
I am a big dog lover, always have been. My own mutt, Shenzi,
is a Long-haired Dashund crossed with a Cocker Spaniel. She's
as dumb as
two short planks.
Nothing at all like the smart, resourceful Sampson of Scare
the Light Away. But back to your question, animals can play
very, very important
parts in
people's lives. Shenzi is my companion, my friend. She sleeps
in my bed, she travels with me and protects me when I'm in cheap
highway
motels. But I am
aware that not everyone loves dogs. Which is often because they've
had a bad experience with an ill-trained dog. In Burden of Memory
the dogs are pretty
confused. They don't know if they're house pets (allowed on
the beds, talked to as if they're babies, and fed treats from
the table) or
guard dogs. Back
to the question again, part of the reason the dogs are confused
about their own identify is that their owner has taken them
on as accessories
- her father
and grandfather always had German Shepards, therefore she feels
compelled to do so as well. I'm not a cat person, but my youngest
daughter recently
got a cat and for a while they were both living with me I found
myself getting rather fond of the little tyke. But I'm not temped
to put
a cat character
into a book.
Lou
What's the hardest stage in your writing process?
Vicki
Revising. The first draft moves like cream pouring over strawberries
(hey, it's June in Ontario - I had fresh strawberries for lunch),
but then I attack
the second draft : never-write-another-word-in-all-my-life and
oh-my-gosh-this-really-isn't-working and what-was-I-thinking.
I'd love to send my first draft directly
to my editor one day. But that will never happen!
Lou
What's down the line as far as number three goes? And how about
ideas for number four?
Vicki
Number three is finished - I hope it will be out next year.
It's titled Child of Mine and takes place in Hope River, the
same setting as Scare
the Light
Away. The main characters are different, but some of the minor
characters, and the police, are the same. I have to talk to
my editor about my
direction. I'd considered doing four novels in the Hope River
Series, one for each season.
But I'm now wondering if I should abandon that and begin work
on a series character.
Lou
So far you have two stand-alones. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of writing those books vs. a series?
Vicki
The advantage of a stand-alone is that you can take the character
on a real life-altering journey. In a series, the character
can grow, book by book,
but you can't have one great ephiphany, so to speak, in one
book. I'm considering (see above) starting a series character.
There are
lots and lots of series
that I love, but they can lose credibilty, in my opinion, if
the character keeps falling over bodies a la Jessica Fletcher.
Yet with a police
series, where the characters have a very good reason to be tripping
over bodies, the
character is sometimes nothing more than a catalast for moving
the action forward. But the market is pointing in that direction
- and
who I am to argue
with the market?
Lou
Most Canadian authors settle in Canadian presses. How did you
find Poisoned Pen Press in Arizona?
Vicki
Poisoned Pen Press is a great company. I talk to people who
are with other publishers all the time and I'm amazed at how
cynical or dissatisfied
they
can be. I sent my manscript to Poisoned Pen, and they liked
it. The process of being accepted at Poisoned Pen isn't quick
and easy. It
can take more than
a year to go through all the stages. But they accept agentless
submissions and they want to be confident in what they're getting.
In the acceptance
letter for Scare the Light Away, they said that they liked my
setting very much.
I think that pleased me most of all.
Lou
What's the strangest contact you've had with a reader?
Vicki
I had a very strange contact with a non-reader. It was at my
very first bookstore signing, at Oxford Books in London, Ontario.
Scare
the Light
Away is about
a woman who reads her late mother's diary. A woman came into
the store, she was about 80ish. I started my spiel: blah, blah,
blah...
journals
she hadn't
known existed... blah, blah, blah. The woman's eyes welled up,
and her face all sort of quivered. And she said, "I don't think I'd like that. My
husband died… and I'm reading his journals... I thought I knew him...
but I didn't!" And she burst into tears. She didn't buy a
book. What, I'd like to know, had she found in those journals!
Lou
What author has taught you the most?
Vicki
Stephen King. Which is ironic because I am not all that much
of a fan of his books. I have read a couple and loved the style
and the
settings, but the
stories themselves weren't for me. I read his book on writing
called, what else, On Writing. It was great. I'd recommend it
to anyone wanting
to be a
writer.
On a practical note, my friend Rick Blechta, author of Cemetery
of the Nameless and the forthcoming When Hell Freezes Over,
taught me
a lot about promoting
onesself and how to have a successful signing. It would be nice
if we writers could concentrate only on our creative side, but
the promotional
side is also
required.
Lou
What's your greatest pet peeve (no pun intended) in mystery
fiction?
Vicki
The author who is too, too much in love with his or her character.
Their adoration of the character practically spills over the
page. There are series books
that I've started to read, enjoyed the first one or two very
much, and then began to realize that I was expected to be as
much in love
with the character
as the author obviously is. Names will not be mentioned here.
Lou
What message do you have for would-be mystery writers?
Vicki
Easy. Read, read, read. If you are not reading everything that
is out there, you don't know what you're trying to achieve.
In On Writing,
Stephen King
says to be a writer you have to do two things: you have to read
and you have to write.
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