Interviewing Julia Spencer-Fleming

Julia Spencer-Fleming is a class act. A nice lady, an exceptional writer with the praise that just keeps coming. Her first novel In the Bleak Midwinter, won just about all the mystery awards an author can win: The Agatha, the Malice Domestic Award, the Anthony, the Dilys, the Barry, and the Macavity. What do you do for an encore? You continue to write a bestselling series, that's what.

I had an opportunity to set up an email interview with Julia and here it is:

In reading the Russ and Clare series, I was struck by how many characters there were in the background. They also show up for more starring roles later in other books. It does indeed make the reader feel as if they, too, are in that small town and getting to know the locals. What kind of strategies did you come up with to accomplish this? Do you plot meticulously or do you prefer a more seat-of-your-pants style?

JSF: At the risk of sounding like the start of an off colored joke, I've tried both ways and I prefer the sweet spot in the middle. I do research before I start a book, and the things I discover about what I'm writing about migrant labor, the National Guard, the drug trade in upstate New York inform the plot. I like to have several set pieces and turning points in mind before I start, and I also spend time thinking about theme and metaphors that I can use to under-gird the story.

That being said, often I don't know whodunnit or exactly how the crime works out. I discover a great deal about the plot and the characters while writing.

When I interviewed Aztec mystery author Simon Levack on this blog, we discussed world-building and how, because his novel was set in 16th century Mexico, he had a lot of facts to slip into the story so that the reader could be properly grounded. It occurred to me that this has to happen even with contemporary mysteries. The New York we think we know as opposed to the one the author is telling us about. In a "mythical" small town like Miller's Kill, we still require that sense of place so important to ground the story. What sort of research did it involve for you? Did it precipitate travel to visit similar places in New England? Or is it perhaps, as close as your own backyard? 

JSF: I'm from the area that I write about, and I visit the real Washington, Warren and Saratoga counties a couple times a year. Fortunately, I live in Maine, a state that shares some of the weather, the terrain, and the economic woes of New York's North Country. “Slipping facts in to ground the reader” is an astute observation of what has to happen. The writer has to pick the telling details that convince the reader of the reality of the place. One reader told me she knew it was the “real” upstate New York when Clare noticed all the cars around her were spattered the same dingy gray in January. I can't imagine getting those details without a great deal of first-hand experience. I don't know how writers get those details without first hand experience. World-building for SF or for historicals awes me.

When my co-workers read my book blurb they raised eyebrows at the words "sexual seduction" but didn't seem to bat an eye at "murder." What are your thoughts about the reading public and our sense of morality; that in your novels we rather enjoy the bittersweet romance between a celibate priest and a married man as well as good old-fashioned murder?

JSF: I think people like the bittersweet romance because unattainable love is so emotion-filled: lust, longing, hopelessness, happiness. However, I do think readers who identify themselves as mystery fans find a non-sexual relationship easier to swallow. I call this the “No chocolate in my peanut butter” theory. Murder is fine, but sex makes some mystery readers itchy. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's too closely identified with the romance genre? Maybe because it simply hasn't historically been a part of crime fiction? There's sex in my latest book, and I remember when I turned it in thinking, I'm going to lose some readers over this.

If you could go back with that red pencil, what would you change in that first book?

JSF: This is a timely question, since I just started listening to I Shall Not Want in audio. First, I wouldn't have everybody and his brother “levering” out of chairs. I really ran amok with that word. Second, I'd correct the egregious mistakes I made while in the heat of the scene (Clare dismisses her congregation, an act that's reserved for deacons in the Episcopal church) or because I assumed what was true in Maine was true in New York (Department of Human Services for Children and Family Services.) This last is an example of a great truth; it's not what you don't know that will trip you up, it's what you mistakenly think you do know.

I'd pump up the police procedure more. I was still uncertain how much I could blend a procedural with an amateur sleuth, and as a result some of the investigative steps are sketchy. Finally, I'd give Clare some more in-depth reasons for doing what she does in the big action sequence. Several critics have pointed out she acts in a reckless manner that borders on TSTL (Too Stupid To Live.) I feel I could change that if I had built up the backstory of the event more. But when I was writing In the Bleak Midwinter, I kept paring things away, because I was worried that at 107,000 words, it would be too long to publish! (It wasn't. My latest clocks in at 127,000 words.)

Come on, tell the truth. What kind of book do you really like to read when getting cozy in front of fire?

JSF: As anyone who reads my work might guess, I love romances: Jennifer Crusie, Suzanne Brockmann, Jo Beverly, Laura Kinsale, Mary Balogh. I also read science fiction; I've recently been ripping through S.M. Stirling's EMBERVERSE series and Jay Lake's novels. I do have a particular fondness for history, whether it's the setting for a romance, a mystery, or an adventure. My undergraduate degree is in history, and my graduate degree had a history concentration.

What sort of advice would you offer to new mystery authors?

JSF: For the not-yet-published, the same two pieces of advice I gave my students in the USM Stonecoast program: read the best in the genre slowly and thoughtfully, and don't look back while writing that first draft! Get it all down on paper and then fix it.

For those who are newly published, I'd say to read J.A. Konrath's blog (A NEWBIE'S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING) and pay close attention. Joe acknowledges that self-promotion can't lift you from the midlist to the bestseller list, but smart and energetic author participation can raise your profile with your publishing house, giving them a reason to back your books and to throw more resources your way. This has absolutely been my own experience.

Your new Clare and Russ novel, I SHALL NOT WANT, came out in June. I think I speak for your many readers when I say that we'd like this series to go on a long time. But in your mind, do you envision a "final episode" or is that something that your psyche would just rather leave alone?

JSF: I've said all along that the series would be finite, and I do plan to give it a rest after I finish the seventh book, tentatively titled No Longer, Death. However, I've brought in a new character, a single mom who is a reluctant trailblazer as a new officer at the Millers Kill Police Department. She's caught my imagination, and I find myself weaving threads into the plot of this book that I can pull for...an eighth book in the series. So I guess the answer is that I will wrap up Russ and Clare's story in some coherent fashion, and leave the door open for a new story to present itself. Oh, and at long last I completed a short story (prior attempts kept turning into novellas...) It's up on my website at www.juliaspencerfleming.com.

I can't wait for VEIL OF LIES to hit the shelves. Looking forward to a signed copy. It's one fabulous read, and I really enjoyed the advance peek. In fact, I'm looking forward to number two, so keep on writing!!

Thank you, Julia for your kind words and an interesting interview.  

Comments

[Holly Y]

Great interview, Jeri! And thanks to Julia Spencer-Fleming for sharing so much! I spend a lot of time building worlds, usually historical, but I find this to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing fiction. I agree about the SF people -- how can they do all that?!?

[Helen Ginger]

Very interesting interview. Thank you Jeri and Julia Spencer-Fleming both.

I especially enjoyed the look back at what you would change in the earlier book if you could. That was fun.