QUESTIONS FROM READERS

Julia Spencer-Fleming answers readers’ questions about her favorite genres, the social issues she writes about in her novels, and childhood influences that have inspired her career today.

Christine from Colchester, IL: Good writers were usually big readers as kids. Is there a particular book that you read when you were younger that you have never forgotten?

Julia Spencer-Fleming: Not so much a particular book, but three favorite series: The Chronicles of Narnia, the Freddy the Pig books, and THE WONDERFUL FLIGHT TO THE MUSHROOM PLANET and its sequels. Kingly quests! Talking animals! Homemade spaceships! Clearly, I was not a child grounded in everyday life.

Karen from Medina, MN: How long have you been writing? How long did it take you to become a published author?

Julia Spencer-Fleming: I began writing --- strictly as a hobby --- in 1997, when I joined an online science fiction writers group (see THE WONDERFUL FLIGHT TO THE MUSHROOM PLANET, supra.)

I realized I was much better at murder than at world-building, and decided to tackle crime fiction. I wrote IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER from 1998 to 2000, putting it down and picking it up in between going back to work at a law firm and having my third child. It won the St. Martin's Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery contest in 2001, and was published as a result in 2002. So... five years between first taking to the keyboard and walking into the bookstore and seeing my book on the shelf.

Karen from Medina, MN: What is your favorite genre to read? Is this particular genre your favorite to write, or do you prefer another? What book made you want to become a writer? Do you welcome input from your editor(s) and find it helpful?

Julia Spencer-Fleming: I love crime fiction, romance and science fiction, but find my gifts run toward the first of these. I believe the genre chooses the writer, to a certain extent, which is why I know several would-be literary writers who wound up writing whodunits when their Great American Novels kept turning into mysteries. I think my impetus to sit down and tackle a novel came not from a single great book, but from reading several clunkers and saying to myself, "I can do better than that!"

My editor is the legendary Ruth Cavin, who has been making better writers than I look good since I was in diapers. I am most grateful for her input and have found that following her suggestions makes for a tighter, more readable book every time.

Annette from Austin, TX: How do you forecast what social issues will remain "hot topics" in the time it takes for one of your books to be written and published?

Julia Spencer-Fleming: If I could forecast hot social topics, I'd be in a different line of work --- trendy marketing, perhaps, or political consulting! I write about issues that concern me and catch my imagination. The plot starter for I SHALL NOT WANT, for example, was an article about migrant laborers working Vermont dairy farms. The image of these small, isolated groups of Spanish-speaking Central Americans surrounded by the homogeneous culture of the Northeast Kingdom stuck with me. How did they get by? What was the reaction of the farmers around them? Since it’s usually three years or more between the conception of a plot idea and the arrival of the book in stores --- I read the dairy article in 2005 --- I can't go with what might be in the news. I have to write what I find compelling.

Annette from Austin, TX: How do you take a catalyst (such as your discovery of the children’s graves) and flesh it out so that it becomes a detailed, complex novel? Did you always have that much creativity in you, or did you do something to cultivate it?

Julia Spencer-Fleming: As far back as I can remember, I was a storyteller (much to my parents’ dismay, at times!). My favorite form of play was make-believe, and as I grew older, I would tell myself tales about things I saw: a spooky old house, a couple at the airport, an abandoned car. I grew a little worried as an adult, because it became clear not everyone had a running storyline in their head. But it turned out I wasn't mentally ill, I was a writer. What a relief!

As far as cultivating the storytellers’ gift, I think the dedication of my third novel sums it up: I had a mother who read to me.

Susan from Middleboro, MA: Do you have plans to write any books with other characters?

Julia Spencer-Fleming: Yes! I have lots of people living in my head (q.v. mental illness vs. writing). There's a mother-with-daughters PI team, and a woman returning to Alabama to break a family curse; A 17th-century Cromwellian officer tasked with keeping the peace in occupied towns and a burnt-out, 40-something Episcopal priest; there's a prison librarian and a lifer who loves books; there's a female cop struggling to keep her job in a future where men outnumber women 3-1; a divorcee trying to hide from life on a tiny Maine island and the "retired accountant" next door who keeps getting shot at.... I only hope I have enough time to write half of them!

Sallie from Austin, TX: Will you continue to develop the attraction between Kevin and Hadley?

Julia Spencer-Fleming: I certainly plan to. Kevin reminds me of Wesley in The Princess Bride --- "True love doesn't happen every day!"

Sallie from Austin, TX: Do you have an idea of how far this series will go? Do you have any plans to start a new series? If so, will it be in the same genre?

Julia Spencer-Fleming: I like the idea of a limited series, where a storyline plays out over a certain number of books and then comes to an end. I used to say there would be five or six books in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series, but I've decided setting a terminal point is limiting. Now I say I plan to wrap up the story of Russ and Clare by the seventh book, leaving open the possibility for other tales set in Millers Kill. I think Hadley Knox has the potential to step forward and be the heroine of a new storyline.

Don from East Lansing, MI: Will you be touring soon? If so, we would hope that Michigan would be included in your plans.

Julia Spencer-Fleming: My tour for I SHALL NOT WANT has been mostly online --- if you Google me, you can see all the blogs I've been appearing on! Like all book tours, where I go has been dictated by my publisher. That having been said, if you want me to appear in your town, have your favorite bookstore apply to St. Martin's Minotaur. I'd certainly love to get back to Michigan again --- my family and I had a wonderful vacation/speaking-and-signing trip to the mitten state three years ago and we're still talking about it.

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