Interviews & Essays
Ransom Notes Interview with Madelyn Alt
Paul Goat Allen: Madelyn, how exactly did you get into writing? And what was the motivation behind writing a romantic, paranormal mystery? Those kind of genre-blending books are very popular right now, and I was wondering if the success of other authors like Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, et al., had any effect on you in any way…
Madelyn Alt: I wish I could say that I had the foresight to see the success of the genre-benders you mentioned and to try my own hand at it. I actually started out writing what I read most often in my teen years and early 20s: historical romance. I'm a real Anglophile and I love history, so it seemed natural for me to focus in that area. And though I have also been a paranormal buff since childhood, it never once occurred to me to try to write it into my historical manuscripts. Weird, I know, but true.
The truth is, years and years of rejection were the real cause of my sudden decision to try something new and completely different. I had had enough. Enough of the rejections, however nicely worded, and enough of the requests to see "something else." It's amazing how incredibly freeing giving up the ghost can be. I decided that I might not be selling, but at least I could, by God, be happy writing something just for myself. Something that didn't follow a guideline, that wasn't written to market or genre rules -- and if it flaunted those rules, so much the better.
That makes me sound like such a rebel…but all I really wanted was to feel the joy in the creation process again.
And I did.
The Trouble with Magic flowed from me, well, er, like magic. When it was finished, I took a good look at it and thought, Huh. You know, that's not half bad. Why not give it one last shot? By that time, I had found Kim Harrison's wonderful Rachel Morgan series and Charlaine Harris's Dead series and recognized that this book and my ideas for more could probably, possibly, with a teensy bit of luck, fit in with that same readership. The success these fine authors enjoyed gave me hope, and that was so important to me after years of struggling.
PGA: What was the hardest thing about getting the first book published?
MA: If a writer isn't blessed with an agent, I would have to say the Great Agent Safari is probably going to be one of the hardest obstacles for a new author to overcome. It's also absolutely necessary. With that out of the way, the next hurdle was finding a publisher that wasn't put off by the cross-genre aspects of the series, one that had a clear vision of how to publish it well. Berkley has been wonderfully supportive.
PGA: Predictable question here, but how much are you and Maggie O'Neill alike? Do you have the hots for Tom Selleck, too?
MA: How did I know you would ask that? Maggie and I are like sisters. I know her every thought, her every doubt, her every worry. Her struggles. Her triumphs. I will admit, there are some aspects of her that are very much like me, and then there are elements of Maggie that belong to her alone. (I think she likes it that way.) And as for Tom Selleck.... Well. A girl has to be allowed her secrets.
PGA: Did you consciously create Maggie as an Everywoman kind of heroine so that any female reader -- and male, for that matter -- could identify with her? You know: an average kind of character who is kind of stumbling through life but with a ton of potential…
MA: This may sound a bit weird, but I'm not sure I had much of a hand in creating Maggie at all. Maggie simply IS. She came to me fully formed in a kind of "stream of consciousness" flow of words and images, completely out of the blue. Remember, at the time I was writing straight historical romance told strictly from a third-person point of view. What came to me, oh-so-compellingly, was three pages straight from Maggie's point of view. Obviously not romance, obviously not historical, and obviously first person. I'd never done any of that. I didn't even know if I could.
This might disappoint those who see authors as mystical, creative beings, wholly in charge of the worlds they build and the people who inhabit them. I feel very fortunate now, looking back, that Maggie is as normal and irreverent as she is -- she keeps things fun and fresh for me.
That being said, I love the fact that Maggie is someone that I can relate to, and I love hearing that she resonates with others as well.
PGA: The aspect of your Bewitching Mystery novels that I just love is the pure benevolence of Maggie and her -- for lack of a better phrase -- healing energy. In the B&N review, I compared these novels to Janet Evanovich in that they're really "feel-good" reads at heart; I finish one of your books feeling better somehow about the world around me. Is that your goal with these books -- a little healing escapism?
MA: First of all, thank you. I love Maggie's energy, too, as well as that of her friends. They're good people -- a little quirky and off-the-beaten-track, but good. One concept that was important to me to present was that goodness is not limited to one concept of spirituality, that you will find both good and bad in all walks of life. This is shown on a smaller scale within Stony Mill proper. For reasons that no one immediately understands, Stony Mill is simmering with unrest, both physically and spiritually. Its people are suffering along with it, in fear and in doubt and in despair, and they are acting out in response to those provocations…but there are moments of light. Perhaps they are no more than pinpricks at times, but still they are there, and while the world goes quietly mad around them, these rays of light bring a bit of sanity to their situations. I think that's an important lesson -- that if someone is looking for light, they will find it. It's there. They might have to look a little harder to find it, but it's there.
So, for me, Maggie is a part of the light. She is a reminder of the core goodness of humanity, even as they plot their way through the unseen reaches of the spirit world that most people tend to fear.
PGA: You share a blog with some other female paranormal fiction writers, aptly called the Witchy Chicks. How has the popularity of the blog affected your readership?
MA: The fun thing about the Witchy Chicks is the sense of camaraderie we all share, the encouragement and support we give each other. Our blog is a "feel good" place. I love that. Our readers come to us knowing what they can expect: a bunch of really cool chicks talking about subjects that interest them, sometimes paranormal and sometimes not. They also have the opportunity to make their own comments in response to our posts, and as a result we often have a sort of dialogue going on back and forth between authors and readers that we all enjoy. We have readers who speak up on a regular basis, and we have many who lurk along, ever so quietly. It's all good.
PGA: What's next on the Madelyn Alt "to write" list? Are you going to continue with the Bewitching Mystery novels or have you thought about writing something new?
MA: Right now, I would have to say the Bewitching series is my number one priority, as I just accepted a deal for books four through six with Berkley Prime Crime and have ideas for so many more. But who knows? A writer always has ideas knocking around in her head, clamoring for attention. Thank goodness! I wouldn't know how to cope if I didn't.
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