Thank you to the busy author
Kathy Lynn Emerson for taking time to answer our varied questions. She
is also the author of the new Liss MacCrimmon series starting with Kilt Dead under the name Kaitlyn Dunnet
You are an extremely prolific
writer. As Kathy Lynn Emerson
you are known for your 10 "Face Down" mysteries and the Diana
Spaulding series. They each are a different historical era. How do you
research
for each one?
My research on the 16th century for the Face Down Mysteries
and on the late 19th century for the Diana Spaulding
Mysteries
follows pretty much the same pattern---read everything I can find on
every
aspect of daily life. Fortunately for me, both periods are well
documented.
Scholars have been studying the era of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and
Shakespeare
for ages, so there are books out there that focus on the tiniest
details. Plus
there are original documents around, such as letters, diaries, and
pamphlets describing particularly infamous crimes.
The Diana Spaulding
books are all set in 1888 in the U.S.
and I chose that particular year because there was such a wealth of
information
available about it. Why? Because March of 1888 was when "the blizzard
of
'88" struck the east coast, burying New York city
and southern New England. A great deal has been
written
about this real event and the accounts include all sorts of details,
from how
much a doughnut cost to what the trains of the time looked like. For
history that
recent there are also a great many primary sources like newspapers,
memoirs (including
my own grandfather's) and photographs.
Your
newest series is the Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries. It
takes place in the wonderfully named "Moosetookalook" Maine.
Why did you decide to use a local setting? How did you come up with the
name?
The western Maine
setting was quite simply to make things easier on myself. There is much
less
research involved when I'm writing about my own back yard.
Moosetookalook was
my husband's contribution. We have a tiny man made pond behind our
garage (more
like a big puddle<G>) and some years back he named it Moosetookalook
Lake.
Why did you change to the author
name 'Kaitlyn Dunnett' for
this series?
"Kathy Lynn Emerson" is known for writing
historical mysteries, since that's the only kind of writing I'd had
published
for about ten years. Using the pseudonym for Kilt Dead lets readers
know this
isn't the same sort of book. They're still mysteries, of course, but
the tone
is much lighter in the Kaitlyn Dunnett series. And of course the
setting is contemporary
rather than taking place in the distant past.
You have strong female main characters in each series. What
is the inspiration for them?
It isn't so much
inspiration as necessity. A shy woman, or
one with poor self-esteem, wouldn't make much of a detective. She'd
probably
run at the first sight of a dead body. Fortunately, there are real life
models
for the heroines of my two historical series. I gave Susanna, Lady
Appleton,
the detective in the Face Down series, the same education given to the
five daughters
of Sir Anthony Cooke, three of whom went on to become major
players behind the scenes in Elizabethan England. Diana
Spaulding is a composite of a number of early female newspaper
reporters,
including "stunt girl" Nellie Bly.
Liss, in the book Kilt Dead, had
been a professional Scottish dancer. Why did you
choose this career for her?
Since there is a Scottish-American heritage theme running
through the books in this series, I wanted Liss to have participated in
some
event at the Highland Games, but I also needed a reason for her to be
returning
to her small town roots after having gone away after high school. Since
I'd recently
had knee surgery myself, having her suffer a career-ending knee injury
seemed
the perfect answer. I could also relate to her having been a
dancer because although I never did Scottish dancing I did
study ballet and modern dance for many years and performed often enough
to be
able to write the opening scene of Kilt Dead in which she actually
sustains her
injury.
You have the titles for the next two
books in the Liss MacCrimmon series
already. How far in advance to you prepare the progress of a series?
That depends on the series. The Diana Spaulding Mysteries
were conceived as a four book series, four separate murder mysteries
but with a
story arc concerning Diana's personal life that runs through all four
and is
wrapped up at the end of the last one. I knew from the start that the
titles
would all use what I called "deadly" words (deadly, fatal, mortal and
lethal) and ended up with Deadlier than the Pen, Fatal as a Fallen
Woman, No
Mortal Reason, and (next April) Lethal Legend. The Face Down novels are
still a
work in progress. There are ten novels and a collection of short
stories and I
plan to write more of each . . . when I have time. I created the
character of
Susanna as a woman the same age as Queen Elizabeth the First on the
theory that
if Elizabeth could live
until 1603,
so could Susanna. The books each take place about two years apart. I
started in
1559 and the latest entry, Face Down O'er The Border, is set in 1577.
How many
books will there be in all? I have no idea. There will be a
hiatus
now for at least a couple of years because of other committments, but I
already
know some of the things that happen in the lives of the characters in
1579 and in
1581.
With the Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries, I was offered a three
book contract, so that pretty much decided the fact that there would be
at
least three. At some point next year I will turn in a proposal for
what's
called an "option book" and if the editor likes the idea and the
first book is selling well and advance orders look good for the second
one,
they will probably offer me a contract for at least one more book. How
long any
series lasts depends as much on the publisher's willingness to keep
publishing
it as it does on the writer's desire to keep writing stories about
those
characters.
You have written
historical mysteries, modern mystery, non
fiction, romance, children's books and young adult fiction. Is it
difficult to
alter your writing style to meet each genre?
Not really. I like to work on two completely different
projects during any given stretch of time, alternating between them.
When I'm
stuck on one, I switch to the other and by the time I'm ready for a
break from
the second one, I can usually go back to the first with a fresh
perspective. To
my mind, working this way makes both projects better. This month I've
been working
on the third Liss MacCrimmon mystery and a non-mystery historical set
in the reign of Henry VIII.
The obvious
question- how do you find time for so much
writing?
I have no life.<G> Seriously, it is a time-consuming
profession. On the other hand, it is my full-time job. I doubt I spend
more
than forty hours a week on writing and related tasks (research, PR,
webpage,
newsletter, library programs, traveling to fan conventions and writers
conferences, etc) . . . but I get to pick and choose which forty hours.
Other advantages? I'm my own boss. I don't have to dress up
or go
to an office. I get to read other people's mystery novels and call it
research.
What
is the impetus for your newest endeavor "How to
Write Killer Historical Mysteries?"
Several years ago I was asked to teach an online course on
writing historical mysteries and it struck me then that there wasn't
any how-to
book out there dedicated specifically to this sub genre. Of course, I
wasn't
sure anyone wanted one, but since I couldn't quite forget about the
idea, I
ended up sending a proposal to the small press that has published
the last three of my Face Down novels. They were
enthusiastic about publishing the book and my vision of what it would
be---my
take on the subject supplemented by anecdotes and tips from about forty
other historical
mystery writers---and the only thing they really pushed for was the
word
"killer" in the title, since they had previously published Carolyn
Wheat's How To Write Killer Fiction. My subtitle, by the
way, is The Art and Adventure of Sleuthing Through the Past.