A Conversation with Ann Parker

Ann Parker's fast-paced yet lyrical Silver Rush series has placed her work on the must-read list for historical mystery lovers. Ann is giving away copies of her award-winning Silver Lies novels to two lucky blog visitors who comment on her interview here.

Ann, have you always been interested in Colorado history and why did you chose the 1870s as the decade to set your mystery series?

Colorado has always been a special place to me. As a child, our family made many treks to visit relatives in the Denver area, where both my mother and father were raised. I even attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs back in 1970 for one glorious year. However, I came to appreciate its history much much later. At a family reunion in the 1990s, I learned from an uncle that my paternal grandmother had been raised in Leadville. This was a surprise to me: she’d never spoke of the place nor what her life had been like as a child. My uncle told me a bit about the big silver rush in Leadville, and urged me to research and write a book set there! Intrigued, I started to read about the time and place and, basically, was seduced by the history. The silver rush (late 1870s, early 1880s) was a time of social upheaval and extremes—overnight millionaires, wildly fluctuating real estate prices, crimes of passion, greed, and poverty—all up at 10,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. It just seemed the perfect time and venue for setting a mystery series.

How did your saloon owner Inez Stannert come into being and how many character traits do you share with your protagonist?

Once I had my time and setting, I turned my attention to crafting a protagonist. I gave her my grandmother’s maiden name—Inez Stannert—then considered what she would be doing in Leadville. I wanted to give her license to snoop in both the good and bad parts of town. I originally thought of making her a newspaperwoman, but decided it would be fun to have her running a saloon (more research!). I also wanted to paint her with shades of gray: not all “good,” not all “bad,” but somewhere in between, with faults and a fallible nature. I’m not sure I share many character traits with Inez … She’s braver than I am (I’m a real wimp!), faster on her feet and with her wits, quick to make decisions and to act, and a marvelous pianist. Perhaps the one thing we share is the experience of being “a woman in a man’s world.” According to the 1880 census in Leadville, three of the nearly three hundred saloons were run by women…Thus, Inez is unusual in her profession, and people sometimes look askance at her as a result. As someone who has worked several decades as a science/tech writer in the realms of high tech and science R&D, I could empathize with Inez in that respect!

How does it feel to have your first novel, Silver Lies, win the coveted Willa Literary Award as well as the Colorado Gold Award and become a finalist for both the Bruce Alexander and Spur awards?

It’s a wonderful feeling, of course! At the time, though, I was mostly stunned. You see, I’d sort of noodled the story out over several years, having a lot of fun, but knowing that, as mystery set in the Old West, it was rather quirky and unusual. Not at all like what was out and around at the time. Finding a publisher had been a long hard slog, and I’d had some of the stuffing knocked out of me along the way. I was (and still am!) so grateful to Poisoned Pen Press for taking on Silver Lies and for being such a great, supportive publisher. I was just happy that the book was being published; the awards and attention really took me by surprise…. a wonderful surprise, of course. Looking back, it all makes me smile. I’d never expected anything like this to happen to me in my life, so this “first literary child” is a very special one.

How much research goes into your novels? Do you read for months before starting a book or do you research as you write? Do you strive for historical accuracy or do you tweak history to fit your plot?

The first round of research happens before the writing, to garner the central idea for the story. I build my plots around real events—the coming of the railroad to Leadville, for instance, in Iron Ties, Ulysses S. Grant’s five-day visit to Leadville in Leaden Skies—and place my characters and fictional events in the shadow of history. It’s hard to say “how much” research I do … I read in fits and starts, carrying around reference books in my car to sneak a paragraph or two at red lights or while waiting in lines in grocery stores. I love reading on planes where there are no other distractions. Once I know the historical pivot for my story (in other words, when I have that a-ha! moment), I start writing and research other things as I go. I do strive for historical accuracy, but tweak if I must. I always include an Author’s Note at the end that tells what’s real, what isn’t, and provides some suggestions for further reading.

How long has each manuscript taken from start to finish?

Since I write in fits and starts, that’s very difficult for me to gauge. Compared to other mystery authors who spin out one, two, sometimes three books a year, I’m a s-l-o-w writer (the literary equivalent of “slow food,” I guess). It has taken me around two years (again, in fits and starts) to write each book. I’m ever optimistic, though, that the next one will be faster.

Tell us about your background.

Born and raised in San Francisco Bay Area, I loved to read from the time I was very young. I can still remember how it felt as I parsed out the word “morning” in an Early Reader book and some internal “reading comprehension synapse” switched on. What a rush! Fast forward 20 years: I received my bachelor degrees in English Literature and Physics (double major) at University of California, Berkeley… no idea what to do with it all, until a physics professor (thank you, Prof. Amer!) suggested I look into scientific editing as a career. My plan at the time was to get some experience, somehow, somewhere, and eventually move to Colorado. In my fantasies, I pictured myself working for NCAR in Boulder. Fast forward another 20 years: I’ve managed to move exactly one set of hills east from where I started. Married, two kids, two decades into my career, it was clear I was not going to settle in Colorado any time soon. Maybe that’s what gave me the impetus to write fiction set in the area I love: At least I now have an excuse to go there and do research every once in a while!

What’s your writing schedule like and do you aim for a certain amount of words at each session?

How embarrassing… This is the point where I have to admit that I don’t have a “writing schedule” per se. I’m now working as a freelance technical writer/editor; that takes a lot of my day-to-day energy and focus. So, basically, my fiction writing is propelled by panic and deadlines. The process goes like this: After I do my preliminary research, I plug along through the first third (or half) of the book, get stuck somewhere towards the middle, and thrash around for a while. I am then jolted back into motion by an approaching deadline. So, I guess that shows that there are all kinds of ways to write. After all, someone has to be at the other end of the spectrum from those who get up at sunrise and write XXX words before going to work…

Who most influenced your own work and why? Have you had a mentor?

I’ve read so much over the years that it’s hard to pick any one writer as an influence. Maybe it’s all those “Lit” classes from way back when, but I have a great fondness for Shakespeare and Milton. I love how they use language and the multilayered nature of their work. As for mentors, I’ve been graced with two, who are dear friends in addition to being mystery authors: Camille Minichino (who was also my “officemate” way back in the Dark Ages of typewriters and of computers the size of entire rooms) and Penny Warner (who taught me “how to write a mystery” back when I first decided to give this a try).

Which novelist, past or present, would you enjoy being trapped with in an elevator and what you ask him or her?

Well, if not Shakespeare or Milton (see above), I’d pick Martin Cruz Smith! I’m a big fan of his novels. No matter what venue he chooses to set his story in—England’s coal mines in 1872, Japan in 1941, Moscow in the present—I start reading, fall right into the worlds he creates, and can’t stop (a new MCS book always bodes badly for my work projects). I don’t know what I’d ask him … I’d be too much in awe. Maybe I’d just ask him for his autograph!

Advice to fledgling writers?

Be sure that you’re in it for the love of writing and telling stories…If you’re hoping to make a fortune by being an author, believe me, there are easier ways to make a living. And, if writing fiction is what you really really want to do, then don’t give up. Take classes. Learn the craft. Practice. And, if you decide you want to be published: Persist! You may have to hear a lot of “no, not for us” before you finally hear a “yes.” If you give up too soon, you’ll never get to that “yes.”

Thanks, Ann, for taking part in the series.

Ann's website: http://www.annparker.net
She blogs Mondays on The Lady Killers http://theladykillers.typepad.com
and at random on The Silver Rush Mysteries http://silverrushmysteries.blogspot.com

Read Ann's great article on historical research at: Searching in the Shadows of the Past