Karin Slaughter - A Faint Cold Fear

Laura Lippman:Within our genre, I think one of the outstanding voices is Liza Cody’s Eva Wylie. Have you read those books?

Karin Slaughter:I haven’t read Cody’s work, but I’ve certainly heard about her. When I think of outstanding voices in our field, I think of writers like you and Lindsay Davis and Denise Mina. All of you are writing such different stuff (especially Davis, who writes about Roman times), but the thing that puts you in the same category is a uniqueness of voice. I know when I pick up a Falco or a Tess Monaghan, I’m going to get a different perspective.

I tend to shy away from Serious Women’s Literature, except for Kathryn Harrison, Lee Smith, and a handful of others. I know what you mean about voice in women’s literature — that sort of knowing, jaded tone where the readers knows that no matter what horrible things befall our heroine, she will come out at the end no worse for the wear.

This is not to say she won’t have learned an Important Lesson, but that she will be somewhat anesthetized to it. Does that make any sense? It’s as if she goes through the motions of a horrible life without truly grasping the horrible side of it. I think this is indicative of a greater social problem, where we are used to being told how to feel instead of being left to our own devices. It’s sort of like viewing your own life through an aquarium.

Maybe I’m the worst kind of hypocrite, because the last five books I’ve read and enjoyed would probably fall into this category!

Laura Lippman:Let’s return to a point you made earlier. Why can’t you read other crime books late in the process of writing one of your own?

Karin Slaughter:I really can’t read crime novels while I’m writing the Grant County series. I want to keep my own voice, and it’s very hard when I’m reading someone like Denise Mina, who has such a powerful control of narrative, to stand where I’m from. I do have to read something, though, because I would go nuts without a book. I tend to read two or three a week when I’m writing, more when I’m not. The most valuable thing a writer can do to hone her craft is to read other writers.

While I was working on A Faint Cold Fear , two books I enjoyed were Michael Chabon’s Kavalier and Clay and Kathryn Harrison’s The Seal Wife . These are excellent examples of character-propelled stories that don’t skimp on plot. I have long been a fan of Harrison’s, and I was thrilled to find she had written a new novel. She brings such an incredible focus to her work that whenever I finish one of her novels, I feel a little lonely, like I’ve lost something wonderful.

I started The Lovely Bones a few days before I finished A Faint Cold Fear , and I was sort of annoyed because I did not realize it was crime fiction. I’ve read a lot of reviews of the book since then, and no one else seems to think it falls into that genre, but I think the story definitely has shades of a conventional mystery/thriller. It’s a great book, though. I got over my irritation by the fifth page.

And. . . okay, okay, I got addicted to the Lindsay Davis Falco series and read about six books before my editor in the UK cut me off. She’s holding Time to Depart until she gets the finished manuscript of A Faint Cold Fear .

Laura Lippman:How do you structure your days? And how does the structure of your days affect the structure of your work? Bear in mind, this question comes from someone who currently has almost thirty index cards on the floor of her office, with word counts and such notations as “The Dogs of Pompeii”; “Cynthia Makes a Phone Call”; and “Einstein’s Bagels/’Nobody cuts me except me.’”

Karin Slaughter:I try to structure my days very carefully when I’m writing. As I am self-employed, it’s very hard to make myself stick to a schedule. Compounding the problem, I have trouble with authority figures and I can spend several minutes bickering with myself before the computer is even turned on. Like almost every writer I know, the internet is my biggest obstacle to work, so the first thing I do is tell everyone I know that I’m not going to be online between certain hours, that I will be writing during this time, and to please not disturb me. Fortunately, I have very supportive and understanding friends, and they ridicule and denigrate me if I send them an email during my work hours.

I spend a lot of time thinking about stories (some might call this “staring aimlessly into space”), so by the time I make it to the computer, I have a very strong idea about how the story will start, and in which direction it will flow. My average writing day can last around ten hours in the heat of it, or as little as two or three when I’m still trying to work something out in my head. A lot of time I will write fifty or so pages, then have to go back and read what I’ve written to understand where I am going in the story.

Writing a book is like a short but passionate love affair. There’s the initial foreplay where you sort of tease around the idea and get to know it, then you’re hooked, and you fiendishly screw around with the plot and the characters until you’re so exhausted that you are no longer in your right mind. When it’s finally over, you spend the next few months worrying over every little detail, wondering what you could have done differently, until you hate it so much that you have to move on to the next story.

I’m not sure where your index cards enter into it, but I’m sure it only heightens the experience.

Laura Lippman:What authors did you love as a child?

Karin Slaughter:I loved Ellen Conford and Judy Blume. I also enjoyed Donald J. Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown series, and anything that smacked of a mystery. As for who I wanted to write like, I really loved Erma Bombeck. I know this makes me sound strange, but I remember reading her when I was around eleven, and laughing until I cried because she was so funny. I was really struck by the fact that someone could write something that brought so much happiness.

The book that had the most impact on me is Gone with the Wind . I read that book at the beginning of every summer from the age of ten until the time I turned eighteen. I think it’s a remarkable story, and I love Margaret Mitchell.

Laura Lippman:We know you’re a very shy and private person. How are you handling all the attention? What’s been the greatest challenge of your success?

Karin Slaughter:I hope that I’m handling it well. It’s difficult to be a shy person in this business, not least of all because at a very basic level, the reason you’re writing is because you want to reach people. It’s an interesting dichotomy. What has helped me is watching friends of mine who are authors, and seeing how they handle group situations. I do much better one on one than I do with a large crowd. I also like to go to conventions and meet people who like to talk about books. I don’t think having a book published makes me any different from anyone else. At my core, I am still a person who loves to read and to share new authors with other readers. That part of me will never change.

Laura Lippman:So you’re at work on Grant County #4 and, knowing you, I’m sure that #5 is already taking form. How long do you think you can keep the series going?

Karin Slaughter:I will only continue to write the series as long as I have good ideas. I want to be true to my characters, and I don’t want to put myself into a position where I’m writing something that I do not want to write — because that’s not why I got into this business. I have three more ideas beyond the third book right now that I want to explore. Jeffrey hasn’t gotten nearly enough attention in my opinion, and I want to do something extraordinary with him. Beyond that, I just don’t know.