A Visit with Beth Anderson

Beth Anderson is the author of seven crime novels. Two of her books have been nominated for the International Frankfurt Award and two were EPPIE finalists in their e-book editions. Her bestselling release, Second Generation, won the AllAboutMurder Bloody Dagger Award, the Rendezvous Review Magazine Rosebud Award, and the FMAM (Futures Magazine) Fire to Fly Award.

Beth, why do you write?

I write because I’m a writer and I can’t stop for any length of time under normal circumstances. I’ve been writing stories nearly all my life and a lot of them are still only in my head.

Things come to me at odd times. People pop into my head who have something to say. I watch people in airports to see how they react to different things, and I believe everyone has a story to tell. Sometimes they don’t or can’t, and if it’s interesting enough, then I tell it for them—but my way.

A news report, a newspaper clipping from an old newspaper, a child’s cry, you hear a sound like a gunshot in the night, someone’s home is destroyed, someone disappears. Anything can trigger my imagination, and I often dream whole scenes that become a turning point or climax in a book some time later.

You’ve won a number of writing awards. Which one means the most to you?

The Bloody Dagger Award a few years back, because it was voted on by a lot of reviewers, all of whom had read my book, so I knew it was a genuine award that I had earned with my writing.

Why did you switch genres from romance to crime novels?

I didn’t. I was always a crime writer because that’s where my interest lies. My first book sold, a Harlequin Superromance, contained a corporate crime, which was the main thread of the book. The romance was a big part of it, but not all of it.

At the time, the only conferences around were Romance Writers of America yearly conferences. Since it was always my contention that good writing is good writing no matter which genre it is, I attended several of those conferences on my way to publication.

It took me a good many years to sell that first book. I had to rewrite it at Harlequin’s request before they’d go to contract because they wanted me to add a third point of view, which happened to be that of the heroine’s uncle who was accused of the crime. So from the very beginning I was a crime writer, although I probably took a slightly different path than most crime writers. I’m so grateful to Harlequin that I did, though, because I received some wonderful training on writing real human emotions in the process.

When did you actually begin writing?

My first foray into writing was when I was eight years old and was listening to my radio in my room late one night when I was supposed to be sleeping. They were having a contest to find new scripts for that program. I was absolutely sure I could do it. Typically, there was not a doubt in my mind until I actually took out my notebook and pencil and tried. I remember how angry I was with myself when I realized I didn’t have a clue how to begin. The seeds were planted in my mind, though. I knew I could do it, I just didn’t know how for a long, long time.

Tell us the story of your latest novel, Raven Talks Back.

I was offered an opportunity to go to Valdez, Alaska to do some contract work for an oil company located there almost immediately after I took an early retirement. On my first morning there I saw a brand new sight to me—fog rolling down a mountainside, not lifting, so haunting and magical. At the same time I was watching the fog, I heard a soft voice inside my head saying, “The spirits of my ancestors live in that fog. I know they are there.” My own inner voice, of course, but who was I thinking of, who would say those words? That came to me later.

I spent a lot of time after I came home just re-working that sentence. The whole first page, in fact, because I knew I was breaking a cardinal writing rule, that you should always start your book with action and just skip the weather and geography at that crucial point.

I agree. You should, most of the time. But I couldn’t let that first sentence go. It had to be there, but it had to be right. I’m sure I re-wrote that first page at least a hundred times and I’m glad I did, because although it’s unorthodox, it shoots you straight into the mind and the heart and soul of Raven, my lead character.

But Raven couldn’t tell her story, so I told it for her.

You’ve lectured at some impressive sites such as Purdue University and appeared on ABC evening news and other media outlets. What do you usually talk about?

Whatever they ask for. You should always talk ahead of time to whomever is in charge of any of those kinds of venues and find out what you can talk about that will most benefit them.

At Purdue, and Moraine Valley College in Illinois, I’ve mainly talked about writing fiction, what sort of steps it takes, and very little about my own books because I’m there to instruct, not sell books. Those students are after information, not a book purchase. I have sold books at Purdue, but that was a on special night set up by one of their faculty sororities.

On radio and television appearances, those have almost always coincided with a book release, so I’ll talk about the book and anything else the person in charge wants me to talk about. It’s always about what they need to put on a fascinating radio or TV show that will keep their listeners tuned in. If the book sells because of the show, that’s fine, but it’s important to remember that keeping the show interesting is their primary concern.

Sometimes I’ll be asked to read an excerpt, which is always my downfall, but fortunately I have, so far, been able to come up with some quotable phrases that saved my neck more than once. Being audacious helps. There’s almost nothing I won’t say, except things that would be censored. You have to be able to think fast if you don’t want any Katie Couric moments. ;-)

Are your novels always based on actual Chicago crimes?

Three of my books were based on actual Chicago crimes where I had read a short article in a newspaper and nothing more, but I got interested in the crimes and began to work out in my head how they could have happened. So while they were real crimes at one time, my interpretations in the books I wrote were strictly my own imagination run rampant.

Which of your characters is your favorite, and why?

I have my favorite in every book I’ve written, but my current favorite is Kimberley Clarke, the old woman in Raven Talks Back, who happens to be Raven’s next door neighbor. She tried very hard to take over the whole book. I had a heck of a time keeping her from doing exactly that because she’s totally uninhibited, funny, devious, rambunctious, very, very smart, AND a terrific actress. My kinda woman! I could have written a whole book about her, but alas, she’s only a secondary character, albeit one who played a big part in this book.

Do you have a regular writing schedule and are you a pantser or do you outline your novels?

I normally do have a regular writing schedule when I’m actively writing a book. I’m a morning person, so I start very early in the day, around seven or so, and I’ll write till about one or two in the afternoon, or until my eyes give out. Early on, when I was just learning how to write a publishable novel, I had a full time job, so I would start at seven in the evening, work until ten o’clock, no later, and pretty much all the time on weekends. I would tell my husband, at seven, to come get me at ten, and then I’d get mad at him when he’d come in and tell me it was ten o’clock because it always seemed to me that I’d only been working maybe a half hour or so.

I’m a combination plotter and pantser. I’ll start out with an idea, do most of my preliminary research on things I need to know more about, then I’ll pick out my characters and do full write-ups on each lead character and shorter write-ups on my secondaries. Then the hard part begins. Plotting the story.

I always know the beginning and the ending of my books before I start, but not how the lead or leads are going to get from A to Z. This, for me, is the fun part. I’ll start writing for a few chapters, maybe four or five, and then spend some time thinking about how I want them to get from A to Z. The getting there may change as I go along, in fact it always does, which provides all kinds of great entertainment for me, but A and Z never change.

My goal is to make my leads as miserable as possible and build on their misery until I get them to the end of their story. I know that without a lot of conflict and angst, you don’t have a very interesting story, so even though I love them and underneath it all want them to be happy, if I gave in to that, my books would be about one page long. Therefore, I do everything I can think of to keep them off-balance and increae their problems throughout the entire book until the final wrap-up.

Fortunately for my family, I only impose my latent mean streak on my characters. It’s a great outlet, if I do say so myself, and I just did. ;-)

Thanks, Beth.

You can visit Beth at her website: http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com/  and .
Her blog site: http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com/blog/.
She's also on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1290204781#!/profile.php?id=745430010